


Just a Dream

by TartKiwiFruit



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Abusive Parents, Blood and Violence, But it works out alright, F/M, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Infection, Modern Era, Plot, Rats, References to Drugs, Underage Drinking, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 74,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23933080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TartKiwiFruit/pseuds/TartKiwiFruit
Summary: Crossposted from FFnet: Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka love Kagome, and especially love ragging on her about her mysterious jerk of a boyfriend. Despite their best efforts, though, they've never actually met him in person. But when Kagome stops getting sick and skipping school, and some weirdo historical-cosplayer in crimson robes starts showing up because "the damn well is broken," it can only be good, right?
Relationships: Ayumi & Eri & Yuka (InuYasha), Higurashi Kagome & Yuka (InuYasha), Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha, Miroku/Sango (InuYasha)
Comments: 33
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagome attends class, Yuka makes a wish, Inuyasha breaks his promise, and Shippo does not make a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a heavily edited crosspost of my fic of the same name that I posted on FFnet in 2013. The point of it is to see Inuyasha get up to shenanigans in the modern era, but I did need a plot to tie it together. Like the jello that contains the stapler, it supports the fanservice we're all here for. It also takes up a lot more words than the stapler. So as much as I wanted this story to be about Inuyasha learning to wear jeans, it's fairly plot heavy. I hope you enjoy the meal, jello and stapler and all.
> 
> For those of you who read the original on FFnet, the character named "Kurukufumu" has been renamed "Benkikou," since I know more about kanji than I did in 2013.

MONDAY

Yuka Shimizu had not had a good morning. So when she, Eri, and Ayumi walked into class together and saw Kagome’s black mop of hair lying on her desk, it was a much needed good turn.

“Kagome’s here!” Ayumi gasped. The three of them rushed to Kagome’s desk as she lifted her head, yawning. She smiled when she saw them and gave limp wave.

“Hey guys!” she said, pushing back the work book on her desk. It was a page of math problems the class had covered about a week ago. “Do any of you have notes I can borrow on this unit? I’m totally lost.”

“We’re doing great, Kagome, thanks for asking!” Eri said. Kagome laughed sheepishly.

“You’re right, sorry, it’s really so great to see you,” she said. “It’s just that my makeup test is tomorrow and I’m freaking out.” She buried her face in her hands and dragged downward, pulling down on her bottom eyelids. “And I haven’t studied like, at all. So that’s fun.”

“Yeah, we’ve got notes,” Yuka said as the three of them took turns hugging her. “It’s just that we haven’t heard from you in a week and a half, and the first thing you say to us is about school!”

“Technically the first thing she said was ‘hey guys,’” Ayumi said.

Eri cut her off. “Give it a rest, Yuka. She’s been in and out of the hospital for months. Obviously she can’t focus on school work when she’s sick.”

Kagome laughed nervously. “Yeah,” she said, trailing off and rubbing the back of her head. 

“So what were you in for this time?” Eri asked. “Hasegawa-sensei said Alice-in-Wonderland syndrome, right? The one that causes hallucinations and migraines?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kagome said. “That’s the one. Anyway. I'd like to take advantage of my time home- from the hospital, I mean-- to get caught up on classwork. So about those notes…?”

“You can copy them after school,” Eri said.

“Oh, thank you! I’m—”

“ _If,”_ Eri interrupted, “you come with us to karaoke after school.” She turned to Yuka. “Is that alright? You don’t have track today, do you?” Yuka shook her head no.

Kagome groaned and looked pleadingly at the trio. "I want to Eri, I really do," she begged. "But I can't afford the time to play around. I need to get as much work done before I have to- before I, um, get sick again. Which will probably happen tomorrow night."

Yuka slapped her hand on Kagome’s desk. “Live a little bit!” She said. “When you’re old and dying, do you want all your memories to be of the hospital and homework? No! You’re healthy now, so you should take advantage of it and come out with us.”

Kagome rested her head on her hands with a snort. “Yeah, I guess all I’ll ever know is homework and hospitals, huh? No life of action for this girl.”

“Great!” Yuka said. “I’m glad you agree. You can copy mine or Eri’s notes after Karaoke.”

“ _Erk._ Wait, that’s not what I meant!”

As other students began to trickle into the room, the quartet took their seats. Hojo came and homed in on her with a pleased “Higurashi!”"How about a compromise,” Ayumi suggested. “Instead of Karaoke, we just go to WacDonalds after school. That way we get to talk and hang out, but it doesn’t take as much time as singing.”

“Works for me,” Yuka said. “Talking about Kagome’s love life always works up an appetite.”

* * *

Kagome loved her friends, despite the fact that they were each pathologically incapable of minding their own business. She’d known Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi for years.

More than that, they represented home. The real world. Safe. And they represented the important things she needed to do that each demon attack blasted out of her brain entirely. Like homework.

The copier beneath her hands whirred musically, its old mechanisms drowning out conversation. After grilling her for a good hour on her boyfriend drama, (“He’s not my boyfriend!” Kagome had insisted, accidentally spewing out a mouthful of Dr. Pepper,) they’d finally agreed to let her copy their notes. Yuka waited patiently as Kagome finished copying the last of page of Literature before she opened her mouth.

"Do you think you'll be coming to school tomorrow?" she asked, putting the notebook in her bag. "You look pretty healthy right now. I hope it lasts."

"Oh, me too," Kagome laughed nervously. _I'm going to school tomorrow if I have to Sit him into next week,_ she thought. _I have too many make up tests scheduled to let him convince me to leave early!_

The three ninth graders nodded together in pity for their poor, frail, friend. Bundled up in their winter coats outside the convenience store, they hugged her goodbye and prepared to separate.

"Oh, you poor thing," Eri moaned as she hugged Kagome goodbye. Yuka and Ayumi quietly echoed, “poor Kagome” behind her.

"I really wish you could stay healthy this time,” Eri continued. “I mean..." she leaned back and looked Kagome up and down, holding her by the shoulders. "Look at you! You look more fit than me! What do you do in the hospital all day, climb mountains?” She let her arms fall with a sigh. 

Kagome realized with a twinge of remorse that despite the jokes, her friends really worried about her. Maybe it was easy to make light of since they only ever saw Kagome in good health; but it must have been frightening knowing their friend was in the hospital. Because of course she’d be okay…until she wasn’t. 

Kagome surprised her friends by gathering them in one last, tight, group hug.

"Guys, I promise I'll be okay," she assured them. "Modern medicine is amazing. No matter how sick I get, I'll definitely always come back. So relax, no need to be so down!"

...Well, probably. Hopefully.

Ayumi wrapped her arms around Kagome's waist and squeezed tightly. "We know, Kagome. But just in case, I'm working on those one thousand cranes. I've got about five hundred already, made entirely by yours truly." With a smile and wink, she released her arms and backed off. The four of them made some more goodbyes before splitting up, Eri and Ayumi in one direction, Yuka and Kagome in another. As they walked away, Kagome heard Eri saying,

"Wow, five hundred all by yourself? That must have taken so much time. And you’re using fancy origami paper, right? Isn’t that expensive?..."

Kagome sighed, but was interrupted from internal flagellation when she noticed Yuka still standing, waiting for her. Oh yeah; Ayumi and Eri lived in the opposite direction, but she could still walk with Yuka for a few blocks before they had to part ways.

They walked for a few blocks, talking about simple, asinine subjects, which miraculously did not include Kagome's romantic affairs. Maybe Yuka was satisfied with what she’d got from WacDonalds(Ha!). Or at least sated enough to respect how much Kagome didn’t want to talk about it.

They chatted about classmates and teachers, and songs on the radio. Simple, easy, and safe- just the way Kagome liked the modern era.

When they passed the corner where Yuka would normally peel off, she surprised Kagome by continuing to walk straight.

"You're not going home?" Kagome asked.

Yuka shrugged, her breath fogging in the air. “I’d rather spend time with you. I'll just walk with you to the base of the shrine."

“Aw!” Kagome said, pulling Yuka close in a one-armed hug. Yuka grinned in response, and they continued to chat until they reached the bottom of the mountains of steps that led up to Higurashi shrine.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Yuka asked.

"Yeah. I'll definitely be in school tomorrow," Kagome promised, nodding. "But I can't speak for after that."

Yuka nodded, because of course Kagome could predict when her next mortal illness would strike.

"Do you think the three of us could come over to your house tomorrow after school?" she asked. "If you'll be feeling alright, I mean..."

"Ah..." Kagome began. She had promised Inuyasha she'd return to the feudal era tomorrow night, after just enough time to get notes and make up some tests. By the time she came home from school the next day he'd definitely be champing at the bit, (if he wasn't already,) waiting at her house to whisk her away as speedily as half-humanly possible. "...No, I don't think tomorrow night's a good time."

Yuka frowned and sighed, but looked more resigned than disappointed. "Yeah. Okay," she said. "See you at school, then."

"See you."

As Kagome walked up the steps to the shrine, she made a wish. A little one. A wish that she knew she didn’t mean, even if her heart ached.

 _I wish I could stay here more_ , she thought.

She didn’t want to leave the feudal era. She loved her friends in the past. She loved the sound of crickets as they traveled through forest, and the sky full of stars she’d never have glimpsed in Tokyo. _And I'd never just leave the people who need me, for as long as Naraku is alive and the Shikon Jewel exists to tempt people. I definitely don't want to stop going back to the past._

_But...I just wish I could spend more time with my friends._

* * *

Yuka walked down the street until she couldn't see Kagome any more, smile fading. With a practiced motion she kicked a rock off the sidewalk. The stone flew into the side of a trashcan with perfect precision.

Yuka was sick of it.

Yuka wasn't idealistic like Ayumi, or as trusting as Eri. She could face the facts when she was being lied to. It hadn't taken long to see that Kagome was doing just that.

After the first time she'd been "sick," shortly after the scare where she vanished for three days at the start of the year, Yuka had believed Kagome’s story. But as the absences became longer and more frequent, and diseases more and more outrageous, so too grew Yuka's skepticism. It was so obvious that Kagome was in perfect health, and that her family was lying for her so she could skip school for whatever reason. In any other situation, she would demand answers. But for no reason she could explain, Yuka feared the truth. That the acceptable lie Kagome told was the only thing bringing her back every few weeks. And if Yuka let on that she wasn’t buying it, the spell would break and Kagome would disappear forever. 

It was a stupid and irrational feeling, but that wasn’t anything new for Yuka. She’d been doing stupid and irrational things since she was twelve, when the restlessness started. Yuka would look around at the world, at her life and her family and her school, and feel trapped inside it. Like some sort of emotional amputee. Running helped, but it wasn’t always enough to stop her from lashing out and saying the kind of stuff that got her kicked off the soccer team.

“Demon child,” she muttered. When she was a toddler, Yuka had insisted to the point of tantrums that she was a yokai. Her parents humored her until she grew out of it, but the nickname stuck. They said it a bit less lovingly, these days. And now she was going to open her big mouth and ruin everything, and Kagome would disappear forever. _Stop it, that’s stupid. That doesn’t make sense._

Yuka expertly kicked another rock, and made a wish. It was a big wish, the one she made every time Kagome came back and visited their school.

 _I wish Kagome would trust us with the truth_. I wish she would share her secrets with us, as friends do.

Wasn’t sharing secrets, thoughts and dreams and fears and drama, what made a friendship? And with Kagome gone so much, Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi couldn’t share their own secrets with her. How could they, when Kagome was so rarely around? She didn’t know that Yuka had been kicked off the soccer team and switched to track, or that Ayumi was taking guitar lessons to pursue her dream of writing music. She didn't know that Eri had a boyfriend, and that their relationship was so steady that not even Yuka wanted to harass her about it. No. Even if Kagome shared her secrets with her friends, she had to be there to hear theirs in turn.

 _Fine_. Yuka thought. _Even if she won’t give us the truth, I wish things could go back to normal, and Kagome would stop vanishing._

Yuka kicked another rock at a trash can, and wished that the clang it made could become a gong, waking up some sleeping god to grant her desire.

* * *

TUESDAY

Shippo’s wails yanked Sango awake. The migraine that had put its jacket on in the front parlor of her brain took it off and hung it back on the coat rack. She let out a soundless sigh, waving off Miroku’s hands from where he’d been massaging her neck. Though she’d probably need more of that pretty soon.

"Kagomeeeeee!" Shippo sobbed (rather dryly, Sango noted,) as he ran into Kaede's cottage. Sango sat up. She, Miroku, and Kilala watched with mild interest as Shippo was quickly followed by an enraged Inuyasha, whose usually silver hair was now brown with mud. "Inuyasha hit me again for _no reason!_ Make him-"

"I did not! The little shit dumped a load of—"

"—I was just sitting at the river—"

"—the size of a damn horse! It was entirely—"

"Kagome's not here, Shippo," Sango interrupted smoothly. Unfortunately. Because now _she_ had to deal with the boys. Miraculously, both immediately stopped screaming. They also would rather whine to Kagome than to Sango.

"She went back to her own time for her tutoring, remember?" Sango went on.

"Oh yeah," Shippo said, his face falling. Inuyasha scowled next to him.

There was a moment of silence as Shippo considered what to do. His usual strategy of making sure Inuyasha only hit him in front of Kagome (and then gleefully enjoying the show) wasn’t an option now. He glanced nervously at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha had not returned to beating him up, but was looking backwards, staring intently at the door of the hut. He looked around to give Sango a wary stare.

"Don't even think about it," Sango commanded, standing up. "You promised Kagome two days uninterrupted. At least."

Inuyasha scowled. "I wasn't going to go interrupt her."

Sango raised a skeptical eyebrow, but didn't sit down. "Good."

"I'm said I wasn't!"

"I didn't say you were."

"Inuyasha," Miroku said patiently, standing up as well. "Why don't you collect supplies to travel, so that we can leave as soon as Kagome does come back?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "I did that already," he said, pointing at some bundled packets in the back of the room.

Damn. "Then go clean that—" Miroku began, and paused. "Hey, where did Shippo go? Hmm, whatever —go clean that mud off your head."

Inuyasha stared suspiciously at Miroku for a few seconds, who gazed serenely back.

"Feh," Inuyasha muttered. He must not have found too much of an ulterior motive in the monk's advice, because he then turned around and stalked out the door.

* * *

Despite Kagome's, Sango's, Miroku's, and Shippo's thoughts to the contrary, Inuyasha wasn't an idiot. He could tell when Miroku was just trying to get rid of him so he could be alone with Sango, even if he did have a valid point. Besides, he needed to find a particular little twerp and strangle him.

And yet, as he ran towards the river to wash out his hair, Inuyasha's thoughts weren't on Shippo. They were occupied, as they often were when she was away, with Kagome.

Yeah, he'd promised not to bother her for two days, but why? He never understood why she cared so much about that stupid place, that _school,_ where people just sat all day and listened to some old fart drone on about…well, he never actually listened to what the geezers were saying. If it was anything like the gibberish in her "textbooks," it was a wonder everyone in the future hadn't gone crazy. She may have extracted a promise from him, (after making a three-foot deep Inuyasha-shaped hole in the ground,) not to interrupt her studies, but he never understood her reasoning, and therefore why he should be faithful to it. "School" was stupid. He'd never heard of anything called "turigunameturi," and if he'd never heard of it, then it probably wasn't that important.

Inuyasha reached the river, where the water was burbling along. It was as slow and peaceful as everyone else in this stupid village, glittering in the bright winter sun.

He stripped off all his clothing and jumped into the river, which came up to a bit below his hips, and bent down to immerse his head in the water. The cold was uncomfortable, but he wasn’t some weak human, susceptible to frostbite. And the freezing water let him cool his head. Inuyasha had found, lately, that he didn't quite like the person he became when Kagome wasn't there. He reminded himself of how he'd been in the past, violent and unhappy. Things were better when Kagome was there.

Inuyasha got out as soon as he washed all the mud off. He shook himself off and donned his clothing, staring at the flowing water. So different from his own fiery nature.

 _I won’t go down,_ he thought. _I’ll just go take a look in case she came back early._ And began to walk in the direction of the Bone Eater’s Well.

* * *

To anyone else, the well was an accursed place. Just one more hole full of demon corpses, in a country lousy with them, filled with jagged bones and painful memories. To anyone else, jumping in meant getting impaled on those bones, instead of never touching the bottom.

The half-demon stood still on the lip, staring down, but his mind swayed with indecision.

_You promised._

_Yeah, but it was a stupid promise._

_Kagome's going to be pissed. Really pissed._

_Nah, only as angry as she ever gets when I try to rush her….Besides, it's her own fault for caring about that stupid school and those stupid tests. She knows that finding and killing Naraku is a thousand times more important._

_You told Sango you wouldn't go bother her._

_Well…shut up._

Inuyasha ran his claws through his hair one more time—it was almost dry—and shook his head vigorously. Then he jumped into the well, and with a flash of blue was gone.

* * *

Shippo had gotten lucky this time, and he knew it.

He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid, forgetting Kagome was gone! But she’d left two nights ago, after Shippo had fallen asleep. And during yesterday and today, he'd been so busy playing with Kilala and some of the village boys that he simply hadn't noticed her absence. Normally Inuyasha wouldn't let him forget it, what with constantly moping at the well and jumping back and forth between the present and the future…

But this time, for some reason, the dumb dog hadn't acted by the script.

 _No. No more excuses,_ Shippo told himself. He'd been stupid, that was it. If he made a mistake like that again, he'd end up a bloody pulp punted halfway across the ocean.

The rice paddies were empty this time of year, bare of either rice sprouts or the many villagers who tended them. Shippo sat at the base of a cliff overlooking the frozen fields, sucking on a lollipop.

 _This is my last one,_ he realized sadly. _I hope Kagome comes back soon._

Inuyasha must have gone into the forest, because it had been about an hour since Shippo had run into the fields, and he’d heard nothing of dog-boy in the village. Shippo looked past the village to Inuyasha’s Forest. It was the place Inuyasha frequented most, which was why Shippo had run in exactly the opposite direction.

He hoped the hanyo was brooding at the well; it would keep him occupied until he broke down and broke his promise. And then Kagome would be back, and she'd protect him if Inuyasha tried to hit him again. Shippo unconsciously snickered around his lolly.

"What's that?"

Shippo jumped at the sound of the girl's voice. He hadn’t even heard her footsteps, or smelled her approach.

He gave a look at the child who'd interrupted him. She was a human girl, probably a villager, though her face was so unremarkable that he couldn’t remember if he’d ever played with her before. Her face was smudged with dirt, and stringy brown hair escaped from a ponytail to fall over her eyes. She looked to be about the same age as him physically, so about seven years old, and was dressed in the same children's yukata worn by everyone in the village.

"What's what?" he responded, suppressing the urge to edge away from her on his log. She was just a human, after all.

The girl pointed at the lollipop stem sticking out of Shippo's mouth.

"Nothing," he grumbled. “It’s mine.”

"It is too something! Is that food?"

"Yeah, but I told you, it's mine!”

The girl glared at Shippo. When this strategy produced no reaction, she switched tactics.

"I'm a demon, you know," the girl finally said, folding her arms haughtily at the kitsune. Shippo wondered if that was supposed to intimidate him; did she not see the tail? He sniffed condescendingly. He could smell her easily now. He wondered why he hadn’t been able to sense her approach before. 

"No you're not. You smell entirely human."

"I am!" The girl snapped. "Demon, I mean. Not human. And I'll curse you if you don't give me that…whatever it is in your mouth."

Shippo took the lollipop out to both wave at her and stick out his tongue. "No you won't," he taunted. "Come and get it if you can!"

The village child grabbed at the candy. Shippo easily avoided her grubby fist, and continued to tease her with it for a few more attempts. At length, she seemed to realize that doing the same thing over and over again wouldn't produce any different results. She stopped and glared at Shippo again.

"I really _will_ curse you," she huffed. Shippo merely smirked; he'd found that it was more enraging than saying anything.

The girl screamed in frustration, and grabbed at the lollipop a few more times, with similar results as before.

"I hate you!" She screamed, pointing at her foxy opponent. "And I'm cursing you right now!"

Shippo laughed out loud this time, and bit the last bit of lollipop off the stick with a sticky crunch.

"Stinks to be you!" he teased. He stuck his tongue out at the girl, and pulled down the bottom of his eyelid for good measure. She shrieked again and lunged at him, an attack he easily avoided. At that moment, he heard his name being called.

"Shippo, where are you? Shippo!"

Shippo dodged a tackle from his new playmate and looked up at the ridge above him, where Sango was walking. Awesome, time for a dynamic exit! He grabbed a leaf from the supply in his pocket, and held it up to his forehead.

"Try to do better next time," he mocked, and jumped. His feet landed on the girl’s head as he boosted off, transforming into an enormous pink bubble at the apex of his leap. He chuckled all the way up the ridge, to where Sango was watching with a tired smile. The child’s shrieks and threats of curses him followed him up.

"Are you torturing the village children?" Sango asked wryly as he transformed back. Shippo shrugged.

"Kind of," he admitted with a grin. "But she made it way too easy."

Sango sighed, and rubbed her forehead. "You need to be more careful, Shippo,” she said. “The villagers are tolerant because Kaede approves of us, and because they sort of see Inuyasha as their mascot. But you need to remember that you _are_ a demon. Don't give them any reason to want to do you harm."

"I know," Shippo pouted. "But she started it!"

"I'm sure. But try to stay out of fights, okay?"

Shippo scowled. Any mirth from teasing the girl—what was her name? Had she said?—was dissipating. Maybe he'd just go play with Kilala.

Sango and Shippo started back towards Kaede's house, to prepare for Kagome’s return. Since they didn't look back, they didn't see the little village girl turn away and speak into the air. And since they didn't look back, they didn't see the thick indentation that appeared in the dirt next to her, snaking away from her in the direction of Inuyasha’s Forest.

* * *

Kagome loved waking up in the Feudal Era. The rising sun that woke her up gently with its budding light, the dawn chorus of the birds, the healthy schedule of sleeping with the sun…she loved them more than she hated the shrill bell of her alarm clock.

But _nothing_ could compare a medieval futon to her bed.

Kagome groaned into her pillow and fumbled for the alarm clock on her bedside, hoping to turn it off without having to open her eyes or move her face. It screamed cheerfully out of reach. Which idiot had put it so far away? Right, that had been night-time-Kagome’s strategy to wake up morning-Kagome. Asshole. Kagome dropped her arm and listened to the ringing for a few more minutes before mustering the strength to raise her torso from the bed.

The door of her room opened as she managed to silence the clock.

"Morning Sis," Sota called cheerfully from the doorway. He was already dressed for the day with his backpack in hand, the little snot.

"Sota!" Kagome shouted, throwing a pillow at her little brother's head. It flopped against the door ineffectually. "What have I told you about opening my door without permission?"

Sota grinned and closed the door a fraction of an inch.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "But Mom sent me up to tell you that breakfast is on the table. I don't know why you set your alarm so late."

"None of your business," Kagome grumbled. "Now get out and close the door or I throw something heavier." Sota stuck his tongue out and left, closing the door behind him.

 _Okay,_ Kagome thought as she went through the familiar routine of dressing and packing up her studying materials from the night before. _I have one day—and possibly less, if Inuyasha comes to get me in the middle—to absorb as much school work and information as possible._ And she knew she couldn't extort any more time out of him as she had in the past. Though the gang had no idea where Naraku was, the stakes were higher than ever, and Kagome knew they needed to find him as soon as possible.

"Kagome, breakfast!"

"Right, coming Mama," Kagome called down. She'd go home with Inuyasha when he came to get her, but until then she would put the thought out of her mind. It wouldn't do to be distracted from school in the little time she had.

She hopped down the stairs to the kitchen and took her usual seat at the table.

"Good morning sweetie," her mother smiled at her, setting a plate of fish and rice in front of her. "How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully, thank you," Kagome said with a grateful smile. God, it was wonderful to be able to eat fish that had been cooked in an oven instead of a campfire. She murmured an _itadakimasu_ and dug in.

"Is Inuyasha going to be coming over today?" Sota asked eagerly, leaning on the table, just as Kagome put a big helping of rice into her mouth.

"Prorolly," she answered before swallowing. "I mean, I told him not to come until tonight at the earliest, so he's probably going to be here around midday. Don't let him follow me to school, alright? I have four tests to make up, and really don't need the distraction."

Sota shrugged. "I can't do anything, I'm going to be at school too."

Both Higurashi kids looked expectantly at their elderly grandfather, who was fastidiously avoiding their eyes.

"Well I don't dare put him to work around the shrine," Grandpa protested. "You remember what happened last time I tried that!"

"Mmm," Kagome hummed. She supposed the fact that he'd destroyed only three precious antiques instead of the whole storehouse was a blessing. Inuyasha's talents lay more in breaking things than in preserving them. "Fine, I guess you're right. And Mama's going to be at work until five…"

"Just send him to me when he shows up," Mama Higurashi offered. "I'm sure Ms. Rekihara will be okay with me leaving early."

Kagome was about to voice her doubts about letting Inuyasha try to navigate the city by himself when she saw the clock on the wall.

"Crap, I'm late!" Some things never changed. "Thanks Mama, I really appreciate it. I'll make sure to rush home today." She hugged her mother in thanks, grabbed her bag, and raced out the door.

* * *

The smell was always the first thing Inuyasha noticed when he jumped through time. The sour odor of “gasoline”, and other noxious gases, pervaded the air even in the apparently pure shrine grounds.

He jumped out of the well and exited the well house. Inuyasha didn't even bother with the front door, instead jumping straight to Kagome's window.

She wasn't in there. He hadn't really expected her to be. But Inuyasha opened the window and went in anyway, breathing in the smell of the room. Kagome's scent washed through him and he breathed in deeply, relaxing, releasing the constant tension he felt in her absence. She'd only been away for a little over a day, but it already felt like forever. He knelt down next to her bed and put his face in her pillow…

"Oh Inuyasha, welcome back!" Grandpa Higurashi wheezed out, noticing the home invader as he passed the open door. "What are you doing?"

Inuyasha stood upright. "Uh, nothing," he said. "Hey, Old Man, where's Kagome now? Is she still at that stupid school?"

"Uh," Grandpa stalled, mind creaking furiously. "Hmm, well, no, she's not at school. She's on a…field trip. To, hmm, to Guam. Yes. She told me to tell you that you should go to the florist down the road, where her mother works."

"What the hell is Guam?"

Grandpa backed away nervously. Lying to the teachers about Kagome's illnesses on the phone was fun. This was not. This had consequences. "Somewhere far, far away. Just go to the florist." He fled, sure that Inuyasha would see through his lie if he kept at it.

Inuyasha snorted. "Far far away" was very different for him than for regular humans. And even if he believed the old man—which wasn't a sure thing—it would be much simpler to just follow his nose from the school than to try to find Kagome through her mother.

"I'll just follow her to Guam," Inuyasha called down the hall, grabbing the baseball cap Kagome kept for him and perching on the windowsill. "See you, old man!"

Grandpa didn't hear him. His ear was too busy listening to the school's hold music. Hopefully his message would reach Kagome before Inuyasha did.

* * *

"Higurashi, phone for you."

The whole class swiveled as one to look at Kagome, who stood up once the office secretary had relayed her message.

"Do you know what it's about? Who it's from?" Kagome asked as left the classroom, her imagination instantly cranking out a hundred horrible tragedies that would cause her to get called out of class. _Mom is dead. Sota is dead. Gramps is dead…_

"No clue," the young secretary shrugged. "I'm just delivering the message." The two walked in silence towards the administration office while Kagome tried to tell herself to calm down. It was probably nothing.

"That one," the secretary said, and directed her to one of the several phones used by the office administrators. Kagome picked up the receiver, her blood pounding in her ears.

"Hello?"

"Kagome," Grandpa's voice wheezed over the telephone. "Bad news."

"What? What is it?!" Kagome asked, gripping the receiver with both hands. "What's wrong? Is everyone okay?"

"What? Something's wrong?" Grandpa gasped, horrified. "Did something happen, Kagome?"

"Tell me why you called me, Grandpa!" Kagome snapped.

"First tell me what's wrong, Kagome."

" _That's what I'm asking you!"_

"No. Nothing's wrong," Grandpa said, sounding hurt. "There's no need to take that kind of tone with me."

Kagome resisted the impulse to bash her head on the desk. "Grandpa," she said, slowly and clearly. "What's the bad news that you called me about?"

"Oh that, yes. Inuyasha's here. And I think he's heading towards your school. I tried to divert him to your mother, but I don't think he bought my excuse."

Kagome rolled her eyes. The fact that the man who had excused her from school with "Alice-In-Wonderland Syndrome" was unable to come up with a convincing reason to keep the tenacious Inuyasha from following her to school was about as surprising and unexpected as Miroku rubbing Sango's ass. "He does that every time I come back from the past, Gramps," Kagome sighed. "Why does it suddenly mean pulling me out of class to tell me?"

"Well, you seemed so insistent this time, even going so far as to make a plan for where he should go," Grandpa sighed. "I thought it was more important than usual, and that you might want to know."

Kagome gave a little laugh through her nose, and her fear-stiff spine relaxed. "Oh Gramps," she said. "I appreciate the thought. But today was no more important than any other day he interrupts me at school."

"Alright," Granpda replied. "Good luck with your makeup tests. I hope that boy doesn't distract you too much."

"Me too Gramps. Me too."

"He may be there already," Grandpa suddenly realized. "He left nearly ten minutes ago; your school had me on hold for quite a while."

 _Crap,_ Kagome thought. She had to get there before he caused too much trouble. "In that case, if he isn't here already he will be soon. I'd better go and do some damage control. I'll see you later."

Kagome hung up the phone and started speed walking back to the classroom. Who knew what sort of trouble Inuyasha could get up to in the modern world, especially around her classmates. Maybe if she Sat him enough times he'd go wait patiently at home. Or better, the feudal era. _Yeah right!_

But despite her frustrated thoughts, a small smile bubbled up onto Kagome's lips. She hadn't seen her rude, violent, oblivious half-demon for almost two days. And the thought of seeing him again soon, even when he was making her life complicated and difficult, had her quietly humming as she walked back to class.

* * *

Sachi walked through the forest. There were grown men in her village who would hesitate to walk in Inuyasha's Forest without protection, but it didn't bother Sachi. There was nothing in the wood that could harm her, not even the weather. The greatest danger to her were the twigs that dug into her bare feet.

Because Sachi wasn't alone.

"What was wrong with that stupid fox?" she grumbled, the salty lines on her cheeks a stark clean within the general grubbiness of the rest of her face. She's been crying earlier, the tears of indignation that came easily to a seven-year old, but her eyes were dry now. Now she was just confused.

 _What was wrong with the stupid fox?_ one of Sachi's friends echoed. She felt a breeze as her friend circled her, raising pleasant gooseflesh on her arms.

"He was a demon, wasn't he?" Sachi asked. "He was. He had a tail. And he transformed into a giant pink bubble."

None of her friends responded, but Sachi felt a puff of breath that smelled like a confirmation. They agreed that the stupid fox was, in fact, a demon.

"If he was a demon, why didn't he want to be my friend?" Sachi asked. "All demons want to be my friend."

_There are many kinds of demons, Sachi._

"I hate him," Sachi mumbled. "I want him to be my friend."

 _We can help you, Sachi. We can help him become your friend, if you would just grant us a gift_.

Suddenly the voices were clamoring around her, begging, asking her for a gift. In the past, some might have yelled at her, commanded her to give them what only she was able to provide, but she quickly disabused them of that behavior. They had to ask her nicely, or they would receive nothing. Sometimes, no matter how polite they were, Sachi wouldn't give them anything.

But they stayed, Sachi knew, because they loved her. And she loved them.

"Alright, I'll do it," Sachi said. "You promise it’ll work? That getting rid of the priestess will make him my friend?”

 _I have watched them,_ whispered one of them, the first of Sachi’s friends. With a voice like branches scraping against leaves, he said, _I know them. The priestess is the one the fox favors. With her gone, he will turn to you._

Sachi nodded. Bekikou had told her the same thing earlier, when Shippo had treated her so unkindly. She didn’t understand how this plan would work, but she trusted her friend. It was Benkikou who had taught her to produce the strange energy that made her know she was a demon, and he was the one who made the rest of her friends invisible. Sachi was the only creature who had ever seen him, and she trusted him most out of all the other demons. 

_Yes,_ many friends answered, voices on the wind. _We'll get rid of the priestess. Now give it to us!_ The dark trees around her rustled with the movement of unseen creatures as they crowded up around her.

Sachi held out her hands and concentrated, and felt rather than saw the white light emanating out of them. Demons and ghosts—her friends—crowded around them, desperate for it. It wasn’t youki, exactly, but it slid into their demonic energy like ink into water. She managed to hold it out for thirty seconds, her friends shoving and crowding each other (though not her, never her,) before the light gave out.

"That's enough," she panted. "I'm tired now. Benkikou, take me home."

The wind swirled around Sachi and picked her up with a touch as soft and delicate as rabbit fur, carrying her homeward.

* * *

Yuka Shimizu made it her business to know everything that happened in her school. The one thing she didn’t seem to grasp was the piece of gossip that everyone knew about her: Yuka Shimizu didn’t know how to shut up. So when the teacher shouted “Shimizu, no talking in class!” Yuka didn’t let it go.

“I wasn’t talking, I was explaining the theorem to Arisawa,” she snapped back at full volume. Arisawa, next to her, cringed.

“Maybe if you actually taught it properly the first time I wouldn’t have to,” Yuka went on.

"That's it." The teacher slammed his fist on the desk, breaking the piece of chalk within it. With the other hand he raised an almost trembling finger and pointed to the classroom door. "Your attitude is unacceptable. Go stand in the hall. Now!"

Yuka left the classroom, but she didn’t stand any longer than the instant it took her to decide where to go. _Like hell I will,_ Yuka thought as she stormed down the hallway, wishing for a rock or a can on the floor to kick into next week. She'd had enough of listening to authority figures for one day. Maybe the teacher would discover she'd left, maybe he wouldn't. She needed to run.

Yuka briefly considered changing into her gym clothes, but decided she was willing to stink up the classroom for the rest of the day in exchange for those precious extra minutes of running she would get. _Got to get out, got to move, now, now, NOW._

She didn’t bother to put on a coat as she left the building and jogged to the running track. It was empty of gym students, but she’d have gone there regardless. She sprinted a lap and a half around the school track before she caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye that made her slow to a stop.

"Holy crap," she couldn't help but murmur, and jogged into the school’s front courtyard to stare.

The figure was definitely the weirdest thing she'd seen in a good long while, and that wasn’t even taking into account the fact that they were twenty feet up a tree.

"Are you part of a historical play, or something?" Yuka asked as she walked up behind the person standing a few yards past the school gate, staring up at the building. Sure, it wasn't such a shock to see people walking around in kimonos these days, but not the loud crimson this one was wearing. The fantasy-historical-roleplayer vibes she was getting fit neatly with the prop sword hanging from their waist. The only thing that ruined the image was the person’s anachronistic baseball cap.

"What? Who the hell are you?" The guy said, turning to look down at her. And despite the long, beautiful silver hair that ran down to the boy's back, he was very clearly male. His scowl sat comfortably on his handsome face, as though it spent a lot of time there. Everything about him seemed to just exude masculine obstinacy, though Yuka couldn't really explain why. She felt a small shiver of pure aesthetic appreciation, looking at his face.

"I'm a student here, duh," Yuka said, gesturing to her only-a-little-bit-sweaty school uniform, which he took in. "And _you_ are obviously not." No one as striking as this guy could go anonymous for any amount of time in her school.

He gave a little snort, as if the thought him going to her school was utterly ridiculous. Yuka gasped as he stepped out of the tree and fell, landing in front of her. Her eyes widened; he’d fallen twenty feet without even dropping to his knees. As he landed, Yuka had the strangest sensation of—something. A smell? A feeling, in the pit of her stomach? It made her take a step back, even as something inside her uncurled and reached for it.

He stared at her for a moment before turning back to look up at the school building, away from Yuka.

"So what _are_ you doing here, Mr. Not-In-A-Historical-Play? I'm Yuka Shimizu, by the way," Yuka said, crossing her arms against the cold. She started to shiver, now that she wasn’t running.

The nameless boy turned back to face her, but instead of answering, raised a sleeved arm to cover his mouth and nose. "What's with you?" he asked. "You smell…weird."

Yuka gasped. She hadn’t even run two laps!

“You’re one to talk, weirdo,” she snapped. She spun on her heel and stomped back to the school building. _What an asshole!_

She was still seething by the time she walked back to the classroom, remembering just in time not to go in, that she was supposed to be standing penitently in the hall. Was he raised in a barn, or something? Maybe he was crazy socially awkward, and didn't know how to talk to other human beings. Yuka wanted to punch something. Preferably that hot, weirdo asshole, right between his unnerving yellow eyes.

The door opened suddenly and the teacher stuck his head out. "Alright Shimizu, I think you've been out here long enough. You can come in now."

Yuka gave the teacher a bow and a thank you, and returned to her seat. Angry as she was, she found that the feeling of antsyness she'd had, the helpless frustration that usually took a good twenty minutes of running, had vanished.

* * *

Since returning to the classroom, Kagome kept her eyes on the window, just waiting for Inuyasha to appear somewhere. So when he suddenly appeared outside her third floor window, it was practically a relief.

 _Get down from there,_ she mouthed with an expression that promised a Sit if he didn't comply.

He pointed to her, and then downward, an obstinate expression on his face. _No, you get down._

Kagome twitched her head in the direction of the oblivious teacher. _Kind of busy at the moment._

Inuyasha rolled his eyes impatiently, and Kagome saw his mouth form a _Keh!_ But he jumped down from the window ledge, just as the teacher dismissed the class.

"Hey Kagome, do you understand—"

"Sorry Ayumi, I've got to go," Kagome said as she ran out the door. "I'll be right back in a few minutes."

He was waiting in a tree in the school courtyard, blending in with the green like a priest in a strip club.

"Inuyasha," she sighed as she walked up to the base of the tree. "You promised me two full days, uninterrupted!"

Inuyasha scowled and jumped down from the tree. "Why do you even care about this stupid stuff, Kagome?" he asked, gesturing to the evil, oppressive school building. "It's a waste of time, and you've said yourself that you're never going to use any of the crap in those dumb spellbooks!"

"Just because you live in a world where all you need to know is how to swing a sword doesn't mean it's the same for me." Kagome stomped her foot emphatically. "My education is _important,_ Inuyasha!"

"What, more important than finding and killing Naraku?" Inuyasha scoffed. "You know that's bullshit. Once we do that, and reassemble the jewel, you can spend as much time on your stupid 'education' as you want."

"I know that!" Kagome shouted back. "I know it's important, okay? But he's disappeared, again, and there's nothing we can do right now to find him. There's no point for us to go on a wild goose chase around the country, especially when I could be using this time to at least _try_ to bring my four Ds and two Fs up to a passing grade. I give up a lot to help search for Naraku, so the least you could do is just give me these two days that you already promised me!

"Okay, I'm done yelling. You don't have to hide behind the tree."

Inuyasha peeked around the trunk. Kagome was _terrifying_ when she was pissed. Maybe coming earlier than he'd promised hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"Listen, Inuyasha, I have two classes left," Kagome huffed, running a hand through her hair. "I just need to take one more test, and then I'll come home. It'll be less than two hours. Then I'll pack up and we can go, alright? I promise." She shot him an ironic glance. _And_ I _keep my promises._

"Keh," Inuyasha grumbled. "Fine. But don't expect this whole school thing to keep happening, wench. We're going to find Naraku, and we're gonna have to chase the bastard for however long it takes, got it?"

Kagome grinned. She couldn't really say why, since she was supposed to still be mad at him, but that whole statement was just so Inuyasha that his speech bubble could have worn fire-rat fur and dog ears.

"Fine," she said. "But only if you stop harassing me at school! Go to the shrine or back in time, and I'll meet you there."

Inuyasha snorted. "I still think it's a waste of time," he growled. Instead of leaving or trying to convince her to come with him, his expression changed to one of thoughtful concern.

“Kagome,” he began.

“Hmm?”

“Are there any demons in your school?”

Kagome blinked. Weird question. “No, of course not,” she said. “The only demons I’ve ever seen in this era were the Soul Piper and the Noh Mask.” The Noh Mask had been the product of a shikon jewel shard embedded in a piece of wood, dormant for the five hundred years since she’d first shattered the jewel. The Soul Piper was an amalgamation of spirits that lead the souls of dead children to the underworld. Neither were the typical, corporeal demons they usually faced. “I don’t think physical demons exist in this time, not in this world.”

“I saw something weird,” Inuyasha said. “There was a girl, dressed in the same dumb robes that you wear.” Kagome rolled her eyes.

“But she smelled…weird,” he continued. “Human at first. But there was something strange underneath.”

“Strange?”

Inuyasha nodded. He licked his lips and flexed his hands as he searched for words. “I can’t describe smells to humans,” he began. “But there was something about it the smelled like…food. But not food that you eat.”

“I don’t understand,” Kagome said. “Food you don’t eat?”

Inuyasha ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Maybe not food. But something…something _desirable_.” More than desirable. Intoxicating. Inuyasha thought if he’d stood next to her for too long he’d have taken a bite out of her then and there. “But also untouchable, pure,” he went on. “Like if you mixed the smells of cooking meat with flowers and it smelled good. But also nothing like meat or flowers.”

Kagome shook her head in confusion. “I’m not getting it. But do you think she was a demon, this person?”

“No!” Inuyasha snapped. “Human, but also…” he yanked at his hair some more.

“I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” Kagome said. “But if she’s not a demon, and she smells like a human, then she’s probably not a threat, alright? So don’t worry about it.”

“Keh,” Inuyasha growled. He considered her suggestion. Inuyasha wasn’t the kind of dog to leave a mystery un-sniffed, but Naraku was more important. He jumped, and with a flash of crimson was gone.

* * *

"You've got your medicine?" Mama Higurashi asked.

"Check. Antibiotics, pain relievers, allergy meds… wait, I'm missing the disinfectant cream."

Mrs. Higurashi looked up from the checklist and spotted the missing ointment on the table, right behind where Kagome was standing. She pointed to it, and her daughter grabbed it up and put it into the already stuffed yellow backpack.

"Change of clothes?"

"Yep."

"Food?"

"That's an understatement."

"Textbooks?"

"Uh-huh."

Standing by the door as he watched the two women pack, Inuyasha snorted. "You know you really don't need any of that. Kaede can give you all the food and medicine you need."

"You never seem to say that when you're stuffing your face with instant ramen," Kagome snorted as she closed the mouth of the bag. She let out an "oof!" as she put it on, her knees buckling a bit under the weight.

"Well then, obviously you should just fill it entirely with ramen," Inuyasha said as he walked over. He grabbed the pack from the top to allow Kagome to slide out of it, and slung it over his back.

"Ah, makes perfect sense," Kagome said as they walked to the front door. "And it's silly of me to waste the space on things like deodorant and tampons, right?"

"Exactly," Inuyasha agreed. "What are tampons?"

"Never mind," Kagome laughed. She turned around to wave goodbye to her mother. "I'll see you in a week or so, Mama. Good night, I love you!"

"You take care, dear," Mrs. Higurashi said with her signature kind smile. "Be safe, and come home soon. You too, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha responded with a lazy wave, and Kagome slid the screen door shut. The two walked in silence to the well house, the cold winter evening crisp with the smell of snow. Both eagerly anticipated their return to the past.

Kagome opened the screen door of the well house and went to stand on the lip of the well.

"Shall we?" she asked. Inuyasha nodded and joined her. They jumped in unison into the well.

The well wasn't very deep, but enough to break an ankle if one didn’t land properly. Kagome realized that something was wrong two seconds in to their fall. Instead of the bright blue vortex that usually appeared halfway through their fall, that beautiful void in which Kagome could feel herself moving through centuries, there were just the mundane dirt walls of an old well. In a second she would crash into the earth, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Fortunately for her, Inuyasha was faster. In a split second, Inuyasha grabbed her and rolled over in the air, in time for the two of them to land on their backs on the well floor. Inuyasha let out a winded grunt as all of Kagome's weight fell on top of him, but Kagome knew he wasn't hurt. She was more worried about _why_ that had been necessary.

"What just happened?" she asked as she scrambled up. She knelt down and felt around the dirt floor, as if that would somehow yield a clue to her question. "The well's…not working? But—that's only ever happened when…" When Inuyasha had forced her down the well and then clogged it with a tree, but she didn't really want to remember that. "Do you think someone blocked it up from the other side?"

"…What," whispered Inuyasha in shock. He'd never been blocked passage by the well before.

"Try digging; that's what got me through last time." Kagome was already scratching at the dirt, heedless of the soil catching under her nails. Inuyasha quickly joined in, and between the two of them (read: mostly Inuyasha) they soon had the whole area of the well torn up. Nothing.

"Let's—let's try again," Kagome suggested desperately. Inuyasha agreed. He grabbed her and the backpack and jumped out of the well. This time, when they jumped, they were prepared.

Inuyasha landed on his feet on the floor of the well, Kagome in his arms. Still in the modern era.

"Fuck!" Inuyasha shouted. He punched a wall, leaving a four-inch impression in the packed earth.

"Let's do it again, Inuyasha."

They tried again. Still didn't work.

"One more time!"

They continued to jump in and out of the well. They tried different methods of making the magic work, no matter how ridiculous it felt. Kagome tried falling in backwards, because that was how she'd passed through the first time. Grandpa's sutras, which had never succeeded in sealing the well before, were carved off with desperate claws. Kagome meditated, she shot an arrow into the well. Each time, they got the same results.

"This isn't working!" Inuyasha snarled. "Why the hell isn't it working?!"

"I don't know!" Kagome cried. She squatted down and moaned, holding her head in her hands.

"I don't know."

"Let's…let's try again tomorrow," Kagome suggested. "Maybe this block—whatever it is—is just temporary. Maybe Sango and Miroku will have taken care of it by the time we wake up." She didn't know how many times they'd jumped up and down the stupid well. She checked her watch—it was 1:46 AM. They'd started at about 10:00. "There's no point in us wearing ourselves out."

Inuyasha grabbed a clod of dirt from the ground and let it fall through his fingers, disgusted.

"Yeah," he muttered. He had some dark bags under his eyes too. "We'll try again first thing in the morning."

They left the backpack in the well. Nothing in it was perishable, anyway, and Inuyasha was tired. He grabbed Kagome and leaped out for the last time.

As they walked back to the house, Kagome didn't even know what to think. She simply couldn't fathom the possibility that her time portal wasn't working.

But it looked like, for now, the well was broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave reviews i need attention


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kilala bares her fangs, Sango visits her old haunts, Inuyasha gets into a fight, and Kagome gets some extra credit.

WEDNESDAY

Miroku was starting to worry.

When Inuyasha and Kagome had not returned the previous night as they had planned, Miroku had been surprised but unconcerned. He was even a little pleased, because it meant that the gang would be able to leave in the morning instead of at night, and Miroku would be able to sleep in a building instead of under the stars (and bugs and puking owls and wandering demons.) Maybe Inuyasha and Kagome had finally succumbed to the overwhelming sexual tension between them and jumped each other. Whatever the reason, Miroku had been certain they would be back by morning.

"Do you think they're in danger?" Sango asked now. She was sharpening Hiraikotsu for the third time that morning, picking up a whetstone and putting it down again, and occasionally getting up to pace.

"I doubt it," Miroku replied, back resting comfortably against the wall of Kaede's hut. After Inuyasha and Kagome had not come home the night before, and continued to not arrive that morning, they'd spent their time in Kaede's hut working on their weapons. "From what Inuyasha's described, the most dangerous thing he's likely to run into in that era is some sort of machine that shoots little arrows made of metal. Maybe it would kill a normal human, but Inuyasha’s been run through more times than he can count. I'd say he's not in any danger."

"Might something have happened to Kagome, then?"

"Do you really think with Inuyasha there, there would be anything she'd be in danger from?"

"No, I suppose not," Sango said, running a hand through her hair. "But I was thinking something more along the lines of a magical or demonic danger."

"There aren't any demons in her time, Sango."

"I know that! But think—what magical object is there consistently in Kagome's time?" Sango asked. Miroku looked at her blankly. "The well. And since it's also the portal between our two times, if something happened to it—or to them _in_ it—we're all in big trouble."

"True," Miroku murmured. "Are you saying they may be trapped inside the well?"

"That's exactly what I fear," Sango sighed. "That or trapped behind the well, in Kagome's time. Or maybe the well transported them to another time period, all of a sudden. Or perhaps into some danger we can’t even imagine. I don't know what to think."

"Perhaps, if that were the case, it could be the work of a demon?" Miroku suggested, pushing off the floor and standing up.

"When is it not?" Sango snorted. She glanced at Miroku as he rose and headed towards the door. Ah, good; they were thinking the same thing. She slung Hiraikotsu over her shoulder and followed him. "Do you have your sutras?"

"Of course."

Shippo and Kilala were outside, playing with some of the village children. "Kilala, to me!" Sango called, and the nekomata bounced towards her with a mew. She hopped up to Sango's shoulder and rubbed her little face on the slayer’s cheek. Sango smiled down at her familiar and scratched her ears.

The Bone-Eater's Well, when Sango and Miroku got to it, looked the same as it always did. Slightly bent out of shape from when Inuyasha had stuffed it with a tree, it was otherwise a completely unremarkable old well.

Miroku knelt to examine it more closely. "Do you feel anything, Sango?" he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. She circled the well, knocking on the wood and listening for a reaction. She smelled it too, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Something’s not right,” she said.

Miroku raised his eyebrows. “Seems normal to me.”

Sango shook her head. “I know. Nothing seems wrong, but I know there’s a demon involved. I feel it in my gut.

“You’re a demon slayer, of course you’d think it’s a demon,” Miroku said. “But we need to remain open to the possibility of alternatives.”

Sango ignored the monk and grabbed some vines, climbing down the well to investigate.

"I think that a demon has something to do with why Kagome and Inuyasha aren't here," she said as she climbed, just thinking out loud. "But I don't think it's all of it. I just—oh!"

"What is it?" Miroku asked, gripping the wall of the well and leaning forward so quickly he almost fell in. "Are you—ah."

At the bottom of the well was Kagome's signature bulging yellow knapsack. Sango prodded it with Hiraikotsu warily, in case it was some sort of transforming demon. When it continued to respond like a knapsack after repeated pokes, she opened it and looked inside.

"This is Kagome's, all right." She dug through it, finding the usual goodies and supplies Kagome brought from her era.

"Bring it up," Miroku called down. Sango threw her boomerang up out of the shaft, ignoring Miroku’s brief shriek, and picked up the bag.

"What does she put in this thing?" she grunted as she climbed up the surprisingly sturdy vines. "Iron bars?"

"Have you considered the possibility that the problem is not in the well?" Miroku asked as he helped Sango out of the well. "Sweet Buddha, this _is_ heavy. Have you considered the thought that they may simply have run into some trouble that's preventing them from getting _to_ the well? Since, as we can see, it is possible for things to travel through it."

"Perhaps," Sango nodded, stretching her shoulders. "But I think the bag actually supports my theory, monk. If they were able to get to the well long enough to get the bag through, why wouldn't they go through themselves? If there were any humans or demons chasing them, they wouldn't have been able to follow them through."

"What demon would have such power, or motivation?" Miroku asked skeptically. "Maybe they can access the well physically, but are forced not to enter for some other reason? Sango, we really have no idea what might have happened on the other side!"

"I'm certain it was a demon," Sango said, shaking her head. "I can't tell you how, or why. But it was." They began to walk back to the village, occasionally switching the backpack between them. Kilala followed at Sango's heels. "Perhaps it was a Nurikabe?"

"Nurikabes are walls that impede walking travelers, not travelers through time. Besides, Kagome would have determined its true nature with ease."

"A shikichijunin, then?"

Miroku shook his head. "Shikichijunin inhabit doorways, not wells. One may have had the power to trap them, if they were to pass through its door, but shikichijunin are bound to the houses in which they dwell."

"Well maybe…an aobozu?"

Miroku raised his eyebrow at the demon slayer. "Come on, Sango, even you don't believe that."

Suddenly Kilala chirped, turning and running off the path into the forest.

"Kilala!" Sango called, dropping the bag into the dirt and running after her. "Kilala, where are you going?"

Kilala wasn't going at top speed and she wasn't transforming, but she was going quickly enough through the underbrush that Sango had to scramble to keep up. "Kilala, wait!"

She did, but it wasn't because of Sango's command. They crashed into a small clearing, Kilala bouncing forward to stand in front of the little girl sitting under a tree. Sango stopped short in surprise; she certainly hadn't been expecting that. Kilala put her chin on the little girl's lap, and gave a small mew. The girl smiled at the nekomata, and didn't seem very surprised as she patted Kilala's head.

"Oh, hello," Sango blinked, kneeling down in front of the girl. "What's your name?"

The little girl was disheveled and grimy, and as skinny as most of the village inhabitants. Sango considered the thought that she was an orphan, and wondered what she was doing in the middle of a demon-infested forest. The girl shrugged and muttered something.

"I'm sorry?" Sango asked gently, leaning forward. "I didn't catch that."

"'m Sachi."

"Okay, Sachi," Sango said with a smile. "What are you doing in the forest? It's not safe; can I take you back to the village?"

The wary girl, who at first wouldn't look into Sango's eyes, seemed to be opening up with the slayer's friendly tone.

"I'm _not_ in danger," Sachi said pertly. Though she spoke more comfortably, she didn't uncurl from her tight sitting position, and had taken Kilala and held her against her chest. "Demons won't hurt me."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Sachi looked into Sango's eyes and bluntly stated, "Because _I'm_ a demon."

Sango turned around to look at Miroku, who at this point had managed to crash through the thick forest into the small clearing, just in time to catch that last bit. He shook his head, with an expression on his face that clearly said, _oh please._

Regardless of the child's mental state, Sango knew she had to get her out of the forest before a demon found her.

"Even demons can get hurt by stronger demons, you know," Sango humored her.

"There are no demons stronger than me."

"There are always stronger demons," Sango said. She reached forward to take hold of Sachi's arm. "Sachi, it really isn't safe—"

" _No!"_ Sachi shrieked, yanking back her arm in a futile attempt to escape Sango's grip. In that instant, Kilala jumped of the girl's lap and transformed to her full size. She loosely grabbed Sango's upper arm in her fanged jaws. Not biting, but she clearly meant business.

Sango stared at her companion in shock. She could barely breathe. _What? What?_ She was paralyzed as she stared into Kilala’s eyes. The demon cat who’d been with her for as long as she’d been alive, her oldest friend and partner, was threatening her with her fangs?

Slowly, Sango let go of Sachi's arm. As soon as she did, Sachi scrambled away and vanished into the brush. Kilala let go of Sango and transformed, emerging from the fire as an adorable harmless kitten. She looked up at Sango and gave a cheerful little _mew!_

"K-Kilala…" Sango whispered, blinking rapidly to hold back tears. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, trembling.

"What was that all about?!" Miroku snapped at Kilala. The nekomata looked up at him quizzically, cocking her head in confusion, and sent a worried look at Sango.

Miroku wasn't surprising that Sango had reacted so strongly. The slayer had been threatened (and almost killed) thousands of times by scarier demons without batting an eye. But Kilala was Sango's first and longest friend. It wasn’t just a threat. It was a betrayal. And it was for such a stupid reason, too. Kilala couldn't have thought Sango would harm the child—

But Sachi did.

Miroku narrowed his eyes, and looked back at the empty patch of forest that had swallowed the little girl. _What was that?_

Kilala hadn’t been thinking clearly, that was obvious. But was it Sachi that caused it? She seemed overwhelmingly human, with her dirty yukata and shy voice, and Miroku hadn't sensed any demonic presence. But Kilala acted wildly out of character to the girl's benefit. Was such a thing possible…?

Miroku shook his head. He needed to discuss this with an expert. Fortunately, he happened to know a pretty clever demon-slayer.

* * *

Mrs. Higurashi found them in Kagome's room the next morning when she went to investigate the room’s open door.

"Oh!" she whispered to herself when she saw them. Inuyasha was sleeping sitting up, cross-legged on the floor next to Kagome's bed. She'd never actually caught him sleeping before. Kagome herself seemed to have fallen on top of her covers, not even bothering to change into pajamas before conking out. Mrs. Higurashi wondered why they'd come back so soon.

She tiptoed forward into the room, hoping to shake her daughter awake to ask why they were there, but didn't get more than two steps in before Inuyasha's eyes shot open.

"What happened?" she whispered. Kagome snored on, dead to the world.

Inuyasha immediately scowled and looked down, knuckles whitening around the scabbard of the sword he'd held in his sleep. Mrs. Higurashi waited patiently.

"The well—the well didn't work," Inuyasha finally muttered hoarsely. "We went in and…stayed here." He shook his head and wouldn't look into Mrs. Higurashi's eyes. As if he expected her to be angry at him.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Higurashi murmured, bringing a hand to her mouth. She actually felt a bit light headed at the revelation. She'd always only ever wanted the best for her children, usually defining "the best" as unconditional happiness. And unlike most mothers in her position, she didn't assume that just because she was older and the mother of her daughter that she could determine that happiness for her.

Ever since her daughter had first disappeared into the feudal era, she'd felt conflicted, knowing how fulfilled Kagome's adventures made her, but also worrying about her safety. But now that the well didn't work…she felt even more so.

"Kagome," Mama Higurashi murmured, walking to her daughter's side and shaking her gently. "Kagome."

"Mrrmphgrl," Kagome grumbled, rubbing her eyes into wakefulness.

"Honey, are you all right? You want to tell me what happened?" Inuyasha seemed too miserable to tell the story in detail.

Kagome looked at her mother blearily, but there was misery in her eyes. "The portal didn't work," she grunted sleepily. "We don't know why, we don't know how. We tried for ages to make it work, and nothing did."

"What time did you go to sleep?"

"Um…two o'clock?"

Mama Higurashi looked at her watch. It read 8:16 AM. "Do you want to go to school today?"

"No..." Kagome moaned, throwing an arm over her eyes. "Yes. No. I do. Give me a few minutes to wake up."

"Of course," Mrs. Higurashi said, rubbing her tired daughter's shoulder. "I'll go make you some breakfast. Come down when you're ready.”

As she left the room, Mrs. Higurashi heard her daughter's breathing deepen into sleep, and Inuyasha continued his silence. She went back to the kitchen and didn't hear a sound from them for the rest of the morning.

* * *

"It's never okay to cheat on your significant other!" Ayumi exclaimed. "I can't believe you agree with him."

"I'm not saying it's okay," Eri protested. "I'm just saying that he deserves a second chance."

"I can't believe you're actually having this conversation," Yuka muttered into the hands that held up her disdainful face.

Eri and Ayumi both glanced at their friend, unsurprised at her surly tone.

"Well, sorry I can't give you any _real_ drama to talk about," Eri smirked, leaning back in her chair and smugly putting her hands behind her head. "That's what sucks about having such an awesome, faithful, adorable boyfriend. Just because you never watch TV doesn't mean we can't talk about it."

Yuka made a gagging motion with her finger. She didn't understand her friends' obsession with TV dramas. Why bother with fake drama when you could start the real thing? But that morning, when they were using their short break between morning classes to chat, Yuka had to admit that there wasn't much "real life" to talk about.

"You'll just have to make do with the TV programs until we can get Eri to cheat on Katsuhiko, or something," Ayumi cheerfully shrugged. "Or until Kagome comes back, I guess. Then we'll have something new to talk about."

Yuka sighed, dropping her head on her desk, and even Eri's gleeful smile dropped at the edges. "I wonder when she's going to come back," Yuka murmured.

"Poor Kagome," Ayumi sighed. She said it so much it had become a bit of a mantra among the three.

"Poor Kagome," they all repeated in unison. Eri snorted.

"Acute lead poisoning today," Ayumi mused. She flipped through her textbook absently. "It's funny, isn't it, how her ailments change so quickly. Like, she only had mononucleosis for a week and a half before she came to school, and then after that it was Kawasaki's Disease."

"Ayumi…" Eri cautioned. Yuka held her breath and said nothing. They would come to the truth on their own, even if they didn't want to admit it to themselves.

"I just wish…" Ayumi continued, trailing off.

"Wish what?" said a voice from behind them.

The three girls whirled around in unison. Standing before them was Kagome, looking pale and tired but otherwise hale. She managed a quick, small smile for her friends.

"Kagome!" Eri gasped, standing up and hugging her friend. "You're here! The teacher said you had lead poisoning!"

"Um," said Kagome, returning the hug. "I don't really want to talk about it. But still, you just saw me yesterday, no need to go crazy."

"Well we didn't think we'd see you for ages," Eri insisted. Yuka wasn't sure if she was just projecting the guilty look that flitted across Kagome's face. "But I guess you're feeling healthy now?"

"I guess so," Kagome shrugged. "Hey, can any of you lend me first period's notes?" Maybe she was trying to change the subject, maybe she wasn't, Yuka thought. But normally she was very certain about when she would get "sick." Today she seemed uncertain…afraid, even.

"Sure," Eri said, walking to her desk to grab her notebook. "Oh, by the way, if you're healthy today, do you want to go to Seibu Academy with us after school today?"

"What's at Seibu Academy?" Kagome pulled a chair over to the desk and took out her own notebooks to start copying.

"Eri's cousin and boyfriend go there—"

"Eri’s dating her cousin?!" Kagome’s head shot up to stare at her friend in horror. Then her brain caught up to her ears. “Oh, no. Her cousin and her boyfriend—who are different people-- both go to Seibu.” She looked back down at her notebook as Eri burst into laughter.

Kagome’s head shot up again. “Eri’s got a boyfriend?!”

Yuka waved her hand in a dismissive motion. It was old news. "Yeah, and they're totally boring—stop smirking, Eri! But anyway, their high school is putting on a charity play today."

"I heard it's really good!" Eri interjected excitedly. "The high school is full of these wackos who make the _funniest_ plays. The middle school, too, now that I think about it. Like, there's this one girl I know who can do regressive hypnosis on people and make them—"

"What's regressive hypnosis?" Ayumi asked.

"It's like, hypnotizing you to remember when you were a baby or a fetus, or even your past life," Eri said.

"Oh please," muttered Kagome as she scribbled.

"You don't believe in reincarnation, Kagome?" Yuka asked.

"I believe it happens…" Kagome hmmed, putting down her pen and considering the question. "I just really hate the concept. You're not just Kik—some famous person’s reincarnation. You are you, no matter what. Sharing a soul doesn't make you the same person."

There was a moment of speechlessness. "Wow, Kagome, it sounds like you've thought about this a lot," Eri said. Kagome shrugged in response, resuming her note-copying.

"Well I don't know about you," Yuka drawled, standing up. "But I think it's pretty cool to be a reincarnation. That regressive hypnosis girl—Aki—she did it for me last time we went to Seibu."

"You guys all went to Seibu without me?" Kagome asked, stung. Poor Kagome, always stuck in the hospital and unable to go out with her friends.

"No, it was just them," Ayumi consoled her. "I've never been before. So what did you see, Yuka? Were you still Japanese? Oh man, I want to have been, like, an Italian princess."

“You’re my Italian princess,” Yuka said, putting her hand over Ayumi’s with a grin. “But I was definitely Japanese, judging from the clothing. I think I must have fallen asleep when Aki was doing the hypnosis, and honestly I think it was just a dream— because I was a demon, and there were demons all around me."

"Demons?" Kagome asked, lifting her head to stare intently at her friend. "What kind of demons?"

"I told you, I really think it was a dream. Because I knew there were demons all around me—I could feel them, sort of—but I could only see trees all around me. They were invisible, I guess." Yuka sighed, leaning her head back. “They were hidden, or something, but whatever was hiding them revealed them to me. Or I mean, I knew they were there even if I couldn’t see them. I’m telling you, probably a dream.” It was a good dream, though.

“A demon reincarnating as a human…” Kagome looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face, before letting out a little "Huh!" and turning back down to her notes.

"It's a load of junk," Eri shrugged. "Really fun and interesting junk, but no one actually believes it." She looked at her watch. "Class in two minutes."

Students began to trickle into the classroom, all reacting in various degrees of surprise to Kagome's presence. Hojo was one of the last to come in, and he was prevented from giving Kagome a box of organic vitamins (to help with your anemia, it's got iron and vitamin B12 supplements,) by the teacher walking back into the room.

"Alright everybody, to your seats," he announced, and the class quickly settled itself. "It's time for our favorite activity—learning history!"

The students let out a collective groan, but the lesson started smoothly. Before turning back to face the teacher, Yuka watched Kagome's rest her head on her desk, closing eyes underlined with purple bags. Yuka couldn't help but wonder what had kept her up so late if she'd been so healthy the night before.

* * *

The walls of the old demon-slayers' village seemed to close in around Sango as she landed, with their creaking timbers and tall spikes. The barrier had once meant safety and comfort, but now the rotting wood seemed to close in on her, suffocating.

She hopped off of Kilala's back, and gave her a scratch behind the ears as Miroku and Shippo slipped down. The nekomata gave a quick shake of her head, stretching her back and then transforming down to fun-sized.

"Thanks Kilala," Sango said, picking the demon up in her arms. "You did well; you can rest for a while now." Kilala was tough, but even she got tired, carrying two full sized adults and a kitsune for the hours journey from Kaede's village to the slayers' compound.

"Okay," Sango said to her companions. "I should be done in a few days. Come back to me then, or if you hear of Inuyasha and Kagome’s return.”

Miroku nodded. "Are you sure you want to do this, Sango?"

Sango started walking across the compound towards the rows of graves. Miroku followed, helping her set down the small bouquets she'd brought from the village. Shippo watched grimly from behind.

"I'm certain," Sango answered. "You were chasing Naraku long before you met Inuyasha, weren't you? I have faith in you."

"That's not what I meant, Sango," Miroku responded dryly. He looked up at the empty, deteriorating houses of the slayers' village. He wondered what memories Sango had in them, and if they’d curdled from the deaths of their inhabitants. If he said, 'I'm worried about your sanity in this traumatic ghost-village,' she'd probably hit him. But… "Do you really want to stay here all alone?"

"I'll be fine," Sango answered immediately. "I can take care of myself."

She straightened up, her flowers properly placed. "If there’s any place that can give us a hint on the trouble with the well, it’s this. Besides, I need to know what happened with Kilala and Sachi," she said. "I won't find any better lore on what might have happened, and what she might be, than in the slayers' records. By the time you come back I should have what I need, and then we can search for Naraku.

Miroku heaved a sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "Why the interest in the child? Don't you think you should focus on the Bone Eater's Well?"

Sango shook her head. "I think it's connected. The well suddenly stops working, just when we meet a strange, demon-controlling, human child of the village we've never seen before? It could be a coincidence, but I don't believe it."

"I did meet her, before," Shippo put in. "She's totally human. She seemed really upset that I didn't give her my candy. Weird human girl."

Sango rubbed her eyes and groaned, "I just don't understand her effect on Kilala, then!" Shippo shrugged.

"Well," Miroku said. "Shippo and I had better be off. Be safe, Sango."

"And you, monk."

The two said their farewells, and Kilala flamed up to her full size. Shippo and Miroku mounted the giant cat. With a last concerned look at Sango, Miroku patted the nekomata and ordered her upwards. Sango watched their forms shrink into the sky until they were gone.

The houses and towers loomed silently around her. Sango didn't shiver. They were full of ghosts now, and memories, but they were not vengeful.

Sango turned on her heel and began walking to the records room. She had work to do.

* * *

THURSDAY

"Don't leave the shrine," Kagome instructed Inuyasha through a mouthful of breakfast, the second day after the well closed to them. "And try not to get in the way of any tourists or worshippers either, got it?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha muttered, bothering Buyo in his usual fashion. "I wasn't planning to, anyway. I'm gonna go check out the well again."  
  
"Did you have any luck yesterday?" Kagome finished her toast and sat on the raised floor in front of the mudroom to put her shoes on.

"No," Inuyasha growled, lifting the cat's front paws up to his shoulders. "I went in and out a few times, no luck. Other than that, there's nothing different about it at all. No youki, no spiritual pressure, no foreign scent."  
  
Kagome sighed. "Yeah, I get the impression this isn't the kind of problem that'll just go away if we wait long enough. I already asked Gramps to look into the shrine records and see if there's anything that can help us. Maybe you could help him with that?" She grabbed her bag and headed out the door. "Until then, don't leave the shrine. See you later!"  
  
Might as well make the most of a bad situation, Kagome decided on her way to school for the fourth day in a row. She was surprised by how easily she fell back into her old routine. Her grades were improving from quizzes and homeworks alone, and she felt more prepared for upcoming tests than she had in months. She sat with Yuka and Eri and Ayumi and Hojo at lunch and felt the real world filling her up again, becoming more solid than the dream of the feudal era.

* * *

“Alright Shimizu,” Eri said, after they’d pushed the four desks together to eat their lunch on. “Give us the daily report.”

“Hm,” Yuka said around a mouthful of chicken. “Lessee. Our very own Hojo here won the district calligraphy contest for the middle-school age bracket, but he’s too humble to brag about it himself, so I have heroically taken on that burden.”

The other girls provided friendly claps and whoops as Hojo blushed. Yuka went on over his feeble protestations. “Maki and Sentaro broke up, shocking no one—“

“They were so cute together, though,” Ayumi sighed. 

“—and class 3-C’s Loaded Gun got into a fight with a high schooler and got the high schooler suspended.”

“Which one’s that again?” Eri asked. “I can’t keep track of all those dumb nicknames.”

“Morikawa,” Yuka said, and Eri made a noise like it meant something. Kagome had no idea who any of the people in Yuka’s gossip report were.  
  
The day passed uneventfully. As she walked home from school, Kagome thought: This is too easy. Since she'd met Inuyasha, her life just didn't do "uneventful."  
  
Which was why she knew the universe was punishing her for her ingratitude when, at the base of the shrine steps, she saw three screaming police cars pulling up to a crowd of people. And in the middle of it all was a boy with long white hair and a scarlet kimono.  
  
 _Inuyasha…!_  
  
"Sit!"

It looked like a fight. By the time Kagome got close, Inuyasha had already been smashed into the ground by her spell, and there was a stranger on top of him, a punkish looking, twenty-something year old man wearing a leather jacket and rings on his fingers. He straddled Inuyasha, punching him in the head.  
  
The police rushed forward and grabbed the stranger, pulling him off of Inuyasha.  
  
"What the hell was that for?!" Inuyasha lifted himself up from the cracked concrete, searching until he met Kagome's eyes. She pushed forward through the small crowd until she was standing next to an officer.  
  
The police misunderstood him. "Kid, you were engaged in an act of battery and public disturbance," a female officer said. "If you want to fight, join a boxing club. You can’t just start a brawl in public." She glanced down at the sidewalk where Inuyasha's face had just been and muttered, "and boy were you losing."  
  
"Wh-!" Inuyasha began to protest, but the police officer cut him off.  
  
"I don't know who started this fight and I don't care. But you're a minor, and it looks like you took a lot more damage than your buddy here." Kagome glanced back at the thug's face, which looked to be developing a black eye, and Inuyasha's. Inuyasha’s face was red and scratched from being sat into concrete, but Kagome knew that would fade in an hour or two.

  
"He's Yoshinobu Ito," a third officer supplied, while his partner manhandled the thug in question into the cruiser. "He's the one who made that mess in holding two months ago, remember?"  
  
"Right," growled the policewoman. She turned back to Inuyasha. "So you're probably not in as much trouble as he is. But we're going to need you to come with us."  
  
"Wait!" Kagome quickly went to stand between Inuyasha and the police officer. "He was the one getting attacked, wasn't he?" The officers were getting out of their cars right when Kagome had activated the beads. Hopefully they only saw as much as she did. "He's not pressing charges, so why do you need to take him?"  
  
"And who are-"  
  
Yoshinobu Ito, bless his idiot soul, chose that moment to howl and kick violently at the screen between the front and back of the police cruiser. The female police officer turned and scowled, then looked back to Inuyasha.  
  
"She speaking for you?" She asked, with a jerk of the head toward Kagome.  
  
"Uh, yeah."  
  
"Fine. You can go for now, but if I ever catch either of you jackasses fighting again, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Are we clear?" Without waiting for a reply, the police woman spun around and returned to her car. The three cruisers peeled away.  
  
Kagome waited for minute until the last straggling rubberneckers had left, and then whirled around to glare at Inuyasha. "I cannot believe you!" she screeched. "I mean, I was expecting a- a broken roof, or something, but the police?! How could you start a fight with a normal human?!" She made a frustrated grasping motion at her hair, then whirled around and began stomping up the steps.  
  
"He deserved it, Kagome!" Inuyasha leaped to stand in front of Kagome on the steps. Kagome went around him. "He was trying to force that girl into his carriage, even though-"  
  
"And it didn't occur to you to stop him peacefully?" But then, who did she think she was talking to?  
  
"I did try!"  
  
"Oh yeah? For how long before you started throwing punches?"  
  
Inuyasha opened his mouth to reply, then closed it. "Listen Kagome, just because-"  
  
"Sit boy."  
  
Kagome walked past the pained grunt as Inuyasha's face hit the stone steps. When she got to the house, she yelled at Sota for something stupid, and spent the rest of the night in her room, feeling guilty about it until supper. Inuyasha was absent from the dinner table. Definitely off sulking somewhere, Kagome had thought venomously.  
  
"He's just restless," Mama Higurashi murmured afterwards in her usual peaceful manner. She rinsed a plate and held it out to Kagome to dry.  
  
"I guess so," Kagome sighed, her voice also low. Despite the sound of the splashing dish water and Sota's TV program running in the background, she was confident that Inuyasha could still hear them, wherever he was.  
  
"This place must be different from what he's used to," Mama went on. "He doesn't understand the laws and ways of doing things, and he has no opportunity to learn. You get upset if he leaves the shrine grounds, and he's clearly doing his best to please you, Kagome. How do you expect him to try to fit in here if you won't give him the chance to understand where he's trying to fit?"  
  
She was right, as always. "Understanding the rules and following them are two totally different kettles of fish," Kagome grumbled. He sure didn't follow any rules but his own in the feudal era. But back then, she tended to see it as a good thing; the thought of Inuyasha meekly following the law of every two-horse feudal lord who thought he was big business was vaguely horrifying.  
  
"And he's bored, Kagome. You can't cage a boy like him and expect him not to make his own entertainment."  
  
Kagome smacked the towel down on the countertop and faced her mother with a huff. "Then what do you suggest, mother? How do we-" she lowered her voice, which had risen with her frustration. "How do we 'keep him entertained' in a way that doesn't end up with someone suing us for property damage?"  
  
Her mother handed Kagome the last dish gave her daughter an admonishing look. She waited until she had her daughter's full attention before speaking.  
  
"Let me worry about that, Kagome. Property can be replaced. Money isn't important. You know what is important?"  
  
"People." Kagome gave her mother a small smile.  
  
"That's right, people. I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten everything I've taught you while you were gallivanting around in the past." Mama Higurashi swatted her daughter playfully with one of the drying rags before starting to put the dishes back in their drawers. "And as for what he can do...well, I think that's a question best answered with Inuyasha's own input, don't you think?"  
  
She turned to the window, opened to let in the night-scented breeze, and said in the same mild tone, "Inuyasha, would you come in please? There's something we need to discuss."  
  
There was a shuffle and clatter from the tiled eaves above the kitchen window, and thirty seconds later Inuyasha walked through the door. He sat down at the table with his usual sulk. "Yeah? What is it?"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi sat down at the table across from him and motioned for Kagome to sit down as well.  
  
"Well, Inuyasha, we understand that being stuck in the shrine grounds all day must be pretty boring for you-"  
  
"I didn’t do it because I was bored!" Inuyasha interrupted indignantly. "Hell yeah I'm bored, but that's not why I did it. And I'd do it again every time."  
  
"Seriously?!" Kagome began. "Why do you-" She stopped short when her mother put a restraining hand on her arm.  
  
"Would you like to explain your side of the story?" Mama Higurashi gently suggested.  
  
Inuyasha glared at Kagome. "Are you gonna listen?"  
  
Kagome glanced away guiltily, then back to Inuyasha's eyes. "Yes, I am. I'm sorry I was so hard on you before." If he really would do it over again, as he'd said, then she knew there had to be more to the story than restless belligerence. "And I'm sorry for not trusting your judgment."  
  
"Keh," Inuyasha looked away, mollified.  
  
"I was on the roof of the shed, and this guy was at the walk up to the oratory," Inuyasha began with a shrug. "There was a girl in the oratory, drunk as a fish. I could smell the alcohol on her breath from yards away.  
  
"She kept talking about how she needed to get home, needed to find the…" Inuyasha waved his hand in the air, searching for the word. "Some contraption from this world that takes people home."  
  
"Taxi? Bus?" Kagome suggested. "Train?"  
  
"The bus, that was it." Inuyasha shrugged, and went on. "He took her down the steps and kept saying he'd take her home, but it was clear what he had in mind.  
  
"So I went down and told him to get lost. He had one of those carriage contraptions sitting in the road, and he was trying to make her get into it when I got there."  
  
Kagome listened, eyes wide, with her hands over her mouth. Fool! She told herself. Inuyasha made a mess of things by accident all the time, but he wouldn't do anything so unreasonable intentionally. She should have known.  
  
"He threatened me and told me to fuck off," Inuyasha continued with a smirk. "I tried to get the girl away from him, so he punched me." Inuyasha chuckled, amused at the memory. "So I slashed a hole in his carriage."  
  
Kagome and her mother both startled at that.  
  
"Oh my…"  
  
"You wrecked his car? Where? How?"  
  
Inuyasha snorted. "I only wanted to teach him a lesson, so I aimed for the extra metal part, instead of the seats. The snout at the front."  
  
Kagome dropped her head on the table. It figured that, when he was _trying_ to limit his damage, he aimed for the engine.  
  
"That's when he started coming at me for real," Inuyasha went on. "I hit him a few times, but he was a scrapper. Just kept coming. Then you came," here he turned to scowl at Kagome, "and subdued me into the rock. And you know the rest."  
  
"Sorry about that," Kagome winced. "Though actually, if I hadn't, the police would probably have considered you the primary aggressor. But I saw that guy got a few hits in; are you okay?"  
  
Inuyasha shot her a disdainful look. Right.  
  
"I'm glad we've cleared this up," Mrs. Higurashi said. "Regardless, I still think it's important to get Inuyasha out of the house. Not that we don't love having you here, dear," she said, giving Inuyasha a reassuring pat on the arm. "But for your own sake, it's probably best for you to have something to do during the day."  
  
"Right," he said. Kagome sat up straighter and gave Inuyasha another look. Was he...nervous? If he was, he hid it well, because any hint of the emotion she thought she might have seen was gone.  
  
"Excellent!" Mrs. Higurashi clapped her hands together. "How about you go to Kagome's school, Inuyasha?"  
  
She was immediately blasted with two simultaneous screams of "NO!"  
  
"No, no, hell no-"  
  
"Mama there is absolutely no way he can-"  
  
"-face a pack of wolves during the new moon than sit in that-"  
  
"-would wreak havoc! If you think the destruction here is bad-"  
  
"-place looks like torture! No!"  
  
"-full of hormonal teenagers!"  
  
Mrs. Higurashi held up her hands in surrender until the two terrified, gasping teenagers quieted down. "Alright, alright," she said. "It was just a suggestion, the first of many. You have both made your opinions clear.  
  
"The next thing I was going to suggest was that you get a job."  
  
Kagome's immediate thought was to protest again, but she stopped herself. Hadn't she just said she would trust Inuyasha's judgment? (At least to act on his own; she still didn't want him showing up at her school.)  
  
Inuyasha considered the idea. "What kind of job?"  
  
"That's up to you," Mama said. "Though I suspect that, with your lack of education or citizenship, your options will be limited. But jobs that require strength would be both available and a good match for you, I think."  
  
Inuyasha leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Anything's fine. It's just until the well opens up and we can get back to our real work."  
  
"Not to mention, if you have your own income, you wouldn't need to come to us for things you want."  
  
"Like instant ramen," Kagome added.  
  
Inuyasha cracked open one eye. "Oh really? How much ramen?"  
  
Kagome went to grab a pen and notepad from the counter behind her, grinning. He was hooked. "Let's see. If you work half-time, for nine hundred yen an hour, and a cup of ramen is sixty yen..." she scribbled out the math. "That's about three hundred cups a week."  
  
"Are you serious?!" Inuyasha jumped from his chair and grabbed the paper with Kagome's calculations. He discarded it half a second later, because he couldn't read the Hindu-Arabic numerals, but the excitement was still there. "I didn't realize how rich your world is, Kagome. Three hundred cups a week! Hell yeah I'll get a job!"  
  
Kagome laughed out loud and her mother smiled.  
  
"Excellent, I'll call the employment agency tomorrow," she said. "In the meantime, though, you'll need to get some modern clothes. Do you think you could take him shopping this weekend, Kagome?"  
  
Kagome’s eyes glittered. She’d liked playing dress up as much as any girl, when she was little. And there was no denying that Inuyasha was a very pretty doll.

FRIDAY

  
It was the middle of math class, when no sane person should be smiling, but Kagome couldn't help the occasional giggle. Her friends had been giving her concerned looks for the past ten minutes.  
  
It was such a weird mental image, Inuyasha in modern clothing. Shorts. Slacks. Button-downs and wife-beaters. Skinny jeans or baggy ones. Weird, but good. Definitely good. Kagome let out another goofy chuckle and Eri whirled around again to make worried eyebrows at her.  
  
The bell rang, and the noise of chatter began as the students got up to stretch their legs and vocal chords.  
  
"Alright, spill." Yuka loomed over Kagome's desk, and Eri and Ayumi approached. "You look happier than Ayumi in a candy shop. What's with all the giggles?"

“Oh, can we go to a candy shop?” Ayumi gasped.

Kagome leaned back in her chair and stretched. "I'm sorry my joy makes you so angry, Yuka," she smiled cheekily.  
  
"That's not- I'm not _angry_ -"  
  
"Oh, stop teasing her, Kagome," Ayumi giggled. She sat herself on Kagome's desk. "You know that if Yuka goes three days without sticking her nose into someone else's business she turns into a pumpkin."  
  
"A tragic curse," Eri intoned theatrically, placing one hand on her brow and the other palm over her heart. Yuka hip-checked her into a passing classmate.  
  
Ayumi continued. "So what is up?"  
  
Kagome thought for a moment about how to tell them, in a way that satisfied their curiosity without revealing any secrets. Well, she could go with that; it was almost true, in a way...  
  
"You could say…I've got a date."  
  
Ayumi, Yuka, and Eri all gasped at once and started talking.  
  
"That's my girl!" Yuka fistpumped. "Now, details! Who is it? Where? Who asked who?"  
  
"That's so nice," gushed Ayumi. "So cute! Same guy?"  
  
"Wait, is this that same rude guy? Or someone new?" Eri asked.  
  
Oh shit, abort, abort! Kagome meant to just throw them off her trail, but all she'd done was chum the waters.   
  
"Oh, it's actually not that big a deal." She desperately tried to downplay it. "He's, um, in town for a while and we're just going shopping together on Saturday. Really, it's not actually a …" she was reluctant to say the word date again. “We’re just friends.”  
  
"Well, your expression during class sure seemed to say otherwise! And this is the same guy we've been hearing about for months, right? Does this mean we finally get to meet him?" Yuka’s grin was wide, her eyes bright and glittering.   
  
_Not if I can help it_. "Yeah, it's him. And, um, I don't think so. We're just buying some clothing and then he's leaving."  
  
"Well then where-"  
  
The bell cut Eri off as the teacher walked into the room, and students reluctantly returned to their seats. Kagome let out a sigh of relief; those girls could grill like master chefs. She made more of an effort to rein in her expression during the next class, but still played Inuyasha-dress-up in her head.  
  
After about an eternity, the final bell rang, and Kagome prepared herself for another round of fending off questions. She saw her friends homing in on her like hunting dogs, coming closer, and-  
  
"Higurashi, I'd like to speak with you for a moment."  
  
Kagome turned to Hasegawa-sensei, and saw her friends do the same. "Oh! Um, yes, sir."  
  
The teacher stared meaningfully at the trio until they got the message and left, bowing goodbye and closing the door. Hasegawa motioned Kagome closer to his desk. She nervously approached.  
  
"I'm very glad to see you've been feeling better lately, Miss Higurashi," he began. "I've noticed you've been doing much better in class since you've...actually been coming to class."  
  
"Thank you, sir?"  
  
Hasegawa waved her response away, like an insect. "But five days cannot make up for weeks of missed content and barely-passing exam scores, you must realize. At the moment, there is a very real likelihood that you will fail ninth grade if you do not maintain the level of attendance you've been showing this week."  
  
His crushing words sat heavy in Kagome’s stomach. No, no! This can't be happening. _I've got to come more often, when the well opens up._ She stared miserably at her shoes.  
  
"That is why," he continued, "I'm offering you a chance for extra credit."  
  
"I'll take it!"  
  
The teacher cracked a smile. "Don't be so hasty, you haven't heard what it is yet.  
  
"There is a...student, in another class, who needs some help." Hasegawa took of his glasses and rubbed the wrinkles between his eyes, a troubled expression on his face. "He often misses classes due to...misguided attentions. I would like you to tutor him, just review the contents of any classes he missed that day. I feel that you, Miss Higurashi, must understand the difficulty of keeping up in school when you don't often attend. The review will benefit you too, in the long run."  
  
That didn't sound so difficult. "Yes, I can do that."  
  
The teacher let out a relieved smile. "Thank you, Miss Higurashi. I'm sure a good girl like you can help turn that boy around."  
  
"Wait, what?"  
  
Hasegawa-sensei rose from his chair. "His name is Natsuo Morikawa, and he really is a good boy. Please don't believe the rumors about him. And he wouldn't hit a girl."  
  
"Wait, what?!"  
  
"So, do you think you could start on Monday?"

* * *

When she opened the door to her house, Kagome was surprised she'd made it that far at all. She managed to get out an "I'm h-" before Inuyasha suddenly bounded in front of her.

"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded. Man, he really was like a lonely puppy. "You said you'd be home before the hour of the monkey. I thought you were dead!"

"Did you really?"

Inuyasha folded his arms and glanced away. "Well, not really. A little longer and I would have come for you."

"Sorry, a teacher made me stay late," Kagome sighed, removing her shoes and dropping her bag. Behind Inuyasha, she saw Sota peek in from the hallway. "I told you that happens sometimes, though it usually doesn't take so long. I'm surprised you didn't come tearing into the school after me."

Inuyasha scowled. "Yeah, because you said this morning that I could ruin your entire future if I showed up and broke a building, and that you'd hate me if I did." Sota made an exhausted-looking grimace and shook his head. Kagome had the feeling that she should thank Sota and Mama’s deflection attempts more than Inuyasha’s willpower.

Kagome blinked. "Oh, did I say that?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth, about to say something else, and choked a bit at her words. "You- how can you just blithely forget something like that?!"

"Alright, I'm sorry! I'll be more accurate about my times, from now on." Kagome began walking to her room, and Inuyasha followed.

"It wouldn't be a problem if you'd just let me come get you."

Kagome stopped short and whirled around, so that her upturned face ended up centimeters from Inuyasha's. "Don't even think about it!" she commanded, jabbing a finger at his chest. "I know you worry about me, and I appreciate that. But there are _no demons_ now, and there's nothing I can't handle on my own."

Inuyasha just blinked, startled, into Kagome's immediate eyes.

"Oh, by the way," Kagome went on, turning and continuing toward her room. "I'm going to be coming home later every day, from now on."

"What? Why?"

"Well, I got the chance to improve my grades," Kagome mumbled, carefully not looking at Inuyasha. "By tutoring some kid."

Inuyasha followed her into her room. He loomed over her as she sat on her bed. "Are you going to come home this late every day?"

"I don't know. It depends on how quickly we get through the material," Kagome admitted. "I think it'll probably take at least this long, maybe longer."

Inuyasha scowled, (when was the last time he hadn't been?) and sat down next to her. Kagome dropped her head onto his shoulder, pretending not to notice how his muscles clenched. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"But you'll stop when the well opens up, right?" Inuyasha demanded. He didn't move his shoulders at all as he spoke, and Kagome didn't open her eyes.

"Yeah. I drop all my other responsibilities, don't I?" _When I stop attending class,_ **I'll** _be the one who needs tutoring..._

"But you pick up the important ones," Inuyasha murmured. Kagome let out a small huff through her nose.

They sat together for a few more seconds, Inuyasha stiff and still as a rock. Finally Kagome lifted her head and clapped her hands.

"Oh, by the way, we need to buy you some modern clothing. So clear your schedule for Saturday, alright?"

Inuyasha shot her a dry glare. "You're hilarious."

* * *

OMAKE:

"I just want to make sure she's alright," Inuyasha said. He stood like a sumo wrestler in the mudroom, facing Sota and the front door.

Standing in front of the door, Sota held his ground. In his hand, he held a-- hopefully-- trump card.

"She's fine, bro," Sota said. "Besides, I need your help more than she does right now."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "With what?"

"Practice. I'm never going to make the team without your help."

Sota lifted the tennis ball in his hand and threw it back into the house as hard as he could. Inuyasha missed it, barely, and scrambled after it as it bounced. His body seemed to move several seconds before his brain caught up.

Sota grinned. It wasn't quite the same as playing fetch with a real dog. But until Kagome came home, it would have to do.


	3. Chapter 3

SATURDAY

Inuyasha had never been so bored in his life. He'd thought sitting around at the shrine while Kagome was at school was bad. If that was the seventh circle of hell, this was something like the nineteenth.

The bus ride to the mall had been interesting enough, even if the smell burned Inuyasha's sensitive nose. Kagome's world was strange, but it was a marvel what those weak humans had accomplished in five hundred years. The mall itself was bigger than most lords' castles, but open to everyone!

"This way," Kagome had grabbed his hand and towed him up the moving staircase. Her excitement was contagious, and Inuyasha found himself curious. What could make the simple act of buying clothing so fun?

Nothing, it turned out.

"Don't you have enough?" Inuyasha groused. He scratched at an ear under his baseball cap. "You'd think an hour and a half would be enough to find anything, if you could just decide what you want."

Kagome had one arm full of clothing while the other poked through a rack of dress shirts. She didn't even look at him to answer. "I just want to make sure we have something of every style. You know, just in case."

 _Please, if there are any demons left in Kagome's world,_ Inuyasha prayed, _let them all attack me right now._

Inuyasha glanced enviously at the store entrance, from which the exotic smells of the food court drifted. Kagome looked totally engrossed in her shirts. Maybe she wouldn't notice this time if he just meandered away…

He made it a few steps before another smell, equally enticing, grabbed him from the opposite direction. He knew this strange scent. Cooked sugar and a cold winter day. Meat and flowers. _Isn't that…_

"Okay, I think this is your size, but you need to try it on." With a slow blink, Inuyasha pulled his focus from his nose to his eyes, which looked at Kagome speaking beside him. She handed him a hanger with a white garment and a pair of pants. "While you're at it you may as well try on the jeans."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He started to untie the first knot of his hakama. "I guess you do things differently in your world, Kagome. I thought you hated it when-"

" _Not here!"_ Kagome screeched, grabbing Inuyasha's arms and pulling them away before they could do any more damage. "In the changing room! That's where you change! _In the changing room!"_ She glanced around furtively. No one seemed to be paying them any attention.

She dragged him through the store until they arrived at the room with "Men's Changing Room" stenciled on the wall.

"Here. Go into one of the stalls, change into those, and come out when you're done." Her face was red as a tomato. "Let me know if anything doesn't fit."

Inuyasha scoffed, but obeyed. Kagome sat down on an available bench and put her face in her hands. **_Boy_** _does he have a lot to learn here…_

A short time later Inuyasha's discomfited voice came from the changing room. "Uh, Kagome, this definitely doesn't fit."

"What? The shirt or the pants?"

"The...pants."

"Do they not reach your... are they long enough?"

"No, they're really long, but they're way too tight."

Kagome paused. She forced her face and voice straight before answering, "They might be supposed to be like that. Come out and let me see."

Inuyasha stepped out of the changing room, clearly feeling awkward in the tight jeans. They fit- oh, they _definitely_ fit. Or maybe that was just him. The white shirt was entirely unbuttoned, revealing his muscular chest that was, for a nice change, not covered in blood. The pants were also unbuttoned, revealing the peeking fabric of his loincloth, though it looked like he'd figured out how the zipper worked.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome's open mouth and turned around, blushing. This new angle revealed a different but equally pleasant view. _Wearing those loose hakama all the time is such a waste,_ Kagome thought perforce. He fiddled with the cuffs of the shirt, pushing them up to his elbows. He looked at himself in the mirror. "Your world's clothing is weird. What's the point of having clothing that doesn't cover your chest?"

"Well-" Kagome squeaked. She cleared her throat and spoke again at a more normal register. "Well that's because you're supposed to button the buttons. Here, I'll show you."

She walked over to Inuyasha and took the shirt in hands. "Like this." She buttoned one button over his stomach, and then another, before her hands slowed.

They were very close, she suddenly realized. She was looking down at his shirt as she buttoned, but also at his bare chest. Was it weird that she was dressing him? It definitely felt weird. The current between them was charged with meaning.

Her hands were still on his shirt. Kagome looked up. Inuyasha was looking down at her, and now their faces were close. _Very_ close. Kagome's gaze went, almost involuntarily, to Inuyasha's lips before glancing back up at his eyes. He was still looking at her, focused. His pupils were very large.

In a slow, entranced motion, Inuyasha's arms rose, his hands approaching her face. Kagome found herself straightening up, shrinking the distance between their faces…

"Hey, is that Kagome?"

Quick as a snake, Kagome shoved Inuyasha backwards into the changing room booth and slammed the door closed. She whirled around, cheeks burning. Yuka and Ayumi stood several yards outside the changing room. Ignoring the stumbling sounds and the "hey!" coming from Inuyasha's stall, she zipped out to stand by her friends before they could come any closer.

"What are you doing here!" Kagome squeaked, breathless.

Yuka smirked. Ayumi tried to hold back her giggles for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

"We thought you'd be here," Yuka grinned. She too tried, and failed, to hold back laughter at Kagome's flabbergasted expression. "We've literally been in the mall for four hours, hoping we'd run into you on _your d~a~t~e_."

"So," Yuka snickered, "where's your boy? Or were you sitting in the men's changing room to spy on strangers?"

Had they not seen Inuyasha when they'd been standing together? When the two of them almost...did something. Kiss? Whatever that strange moment was leading to. Kagome shook her head almost involuntarily, to shake away the memory.

"Um, no, I'm not— it's, um—" Kagome stuttered.

"Hey, Kagome, look at this!" Ayumi interrupted. She fished something out of her shopping bag and shoved it in Kagome's face. Kagome pulled away from at the furry brown thing before she blinked it into a large stuffed mouse.

"Isn't it cute?" Ayumi cooed. "It's going to be Yuka's new best friend."

Kagome laughed. "You're mean!"

Yuka was glaring at Ayumi. "Real funny," she grumbled. Yuka had had a debilitating fear of rodents for as long as Kagome had known her. They'd put a hamster toy on her pillow during a sleepover in elementary school and she'd cried.

Ayumi hugged the stuffed mouse close. "No, I'm not being mean! This is part of her therapy." She gave the toy a kiss on its head. "Besides, it's too cute not to love!"

Yuka wasn't looking very loving. Her eyes kept darting to the mouse, and she rubbed the flesh between her right thumb and forefinger, her nervous tic. Eventually she snapped at Ayumi, "Can't you put that thing away? Don't we have more important stuff to do, like meet Kagome's boyfriend before she can steal him away again?"

"He's not my—" Kagome began, as Ayumi turned to look at her sparkling eyes.

"Don't worry, we're not going to steal your man, Kagome. I just want a look!" Ayumi clapped a hand on Kagome's back. She dashed past Kagome and skipped to a stop in front of the changing stall door.

Kagome ran up towards her. _Wait, don't, I'm not ready for this!_ Yuka followed behind her, snickering. The stall door was ajar. Ayumi gave it a curious look and knocked on the open door.

The stall swung open. The red hakama and haori lay discarded on the floor, with the white hanjuban thrown on top of them.

Other than that, the stall was empty.

* * *

The smell of blood was getting stronger.

It wasn't difficult to jump to the top of the changing room walls. The gap between the thin walls and the ceiling gave Inuyasha a good vantage point from which to pinpoint the source of the smell. _There._

As he leaped towards the food court, Inuyasha considered the possibilities. No smell of shit or bile, so not a lethal gut wound. Human, female, young adult. That the smell of blood was getting stronger meant she was still bleeding, but it wasn't as strong as a dangerous, life-threatening cut to a vital artery. _And Kagome says her world is so safe._

Landing at the back of the food court, Inuyasha sniffed again. There, it was definitely coming from that hallway. Inuyasha bounded past the two doors- definitely bathroom doors, judging by the smell— and turned the corner to the small, dead-end of the hallway.

The girl was sitting, collapsed or forced onto the floor, her head oozing blood from a cut on her scalp. The man was holding her wrists in tight fists above her head, looming over her. She looked to be about the same age as Kagome, even wearing the same style of clothing. The colors were different, but Inuyasha recognized the style of knotted fabric that Kagome described as a sailor uniform. (It looked nothing like the clothing worn by any sailors _he'd_ seen, not that anyone was asking.)

The man was an average human. He was large, fat but not hideously so. He was hissing something down at the girl.

"—are you? Well? Say something you little cunt. Maybe now you know how to treat a paying customer with respect."

"Make up your mind you fat sack of shit, do you want me to be quiet or say something?" The girl snarled back. Her voice was surprisingly strong for someone in her position. Despite the fading tears in her voice and the occasional hitch in her speech, she spoke powerfully. "Are you that pathetic? Good job, so strong, managed to hit a teenage girl—"

The man drew back a fist and Inuyasha lunged. He grabbed the outstretched arm and yanked him off the girl.

The man faced him, enraged. "Who the f—"

Inuyasha reached up with the other arm to slam the man's meaty head into the wall. It made a solid _wham_ and the man staggered to the floor, conscious but stunned. The girl gasped and flinched back.

Inuyasha turned back to the girl. She was still bleeding, but head wounds did that. She stared up with an expression of fear and forced aloofness. Inuyasha began, "Hey, are you—"

The man had recovered, and stood. "You little—" he managed to roar out before Inuyasha calmly socked him in the jaw. He collapsed to the floor, and Inuyasha kicked him in the solar plexus for good measure. Annoying. He missed his sword, left hidden in the Higurashi house. He would never deign to _use_ Tetsusaiga on human filth like this, but the sight of the giant fang might have convinced him to buzz off.

"Not a friend of yours, I guess," he said to the girl. Her face was white.

"Not exactly," she choked out. There was a moment of silence. Crap, now what? The whole recovery and dealing with people business was Kagome and Miroku's job. Inuyasha punched things.

The girl reached up a hand and Inuyasha lifted her to her shaking feet. "Um," she began. "By any chance, do you have a cell phone?"

Whatever the hell that was. "No," Inuyasha said. "But I know someone who does."

* * *

"Well, he _was_ here," Kagome said. No use denying that.

"We've been standing outside the changing room this whole time," Yuka sputtered. "Where could he have gone?" She stared suspiciously at the scarlet garments that Kagome gathered off the floor. "Kagome, please tell me your boyfriend is not that asshole historical cosplayer."

"I thought he was a gang member," Ayumi murmured.

"I'm pretty sure I never said that," Kagome said, but her heart was sinking. Had Inuyasha and Yuka met? And had he already made a bad impression? "What do you mean, historical cosplayer?"

Yuka scowled. "Some dick I ran into at school a while ago. Forget it."

Ayumi gasped theatrically and leaned onto Yuka's arm. "What's this?" she giggled. "Did Yuka have drama with a _boy?_ "

"Not hardly," Yuka growled. "Unless you consider 'drama' some asshole telling me I smell." She turned to Kagome. "Just tell me- does your boyfriend have long white hair and yellow eyes?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Kagome began, heart sinking further. She was interrupted by a shrill ringing from Yuka's purse. The girl's scowl deepened.

"Hold on a minute," she muttered, fishing through her purse as she walked out of earshot.

"Since when has Yuka had a cellphone?" Kagome asked Ayumi.

Ayumi pursed her lips. "For a few months. Her dad wanted to be able to get in touch at all times."

Kagome winced. "I bet Yuka just loves that. Is her dad still...you know?"

"Yep," Ayumi sighed. Kagome sighed too.

Yuka slapped her phone shut and stuffed it in her purse. "I've got to go," she said tonelessly after walking back. "I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"I'll walk you home," Ayumi volunteered. Yuka nodded.

"Say hi to your boyfriend for me, Kagome!" Ayumi called back. Kagome waved goodbye with a wry smile.

 _Now, to find my wayward hanyo,_ Kagome thought after her friends had left. Besides the fact that she didn't want to unleash him on an innocent shopping mall, he was wearing stolen clothing.

She wondered if she'd be able to sense him. With no other demons around, his youki should stand out. Kagome couldn't sense demons as well as she could jewel shards, which each screamed out to her like little blazing suns, even from miles away. But she'd been getting better. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

Nothing. And then... _there._

Kagome walked in the direction of the food court. To her surprise, she saw Inuyasha walking in her direction, a girl about her own age following him, her face bloody.

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped, running to them. "What happened?"

"This woman needs a…" Inuyasha began, and looked at the girl.

"Cellphone," she finished. Despite her puffy eyes, her voice didn't quaver.

"Oh, um, I'm afraid I don't have a cell phone. But there are payphones by the store entrance," Kagome said, gesturing. "Here, is there anything I can do for your head?" She rifled through her purse for anything she could use to staunch the bleeding.

The girl stiffened. "I'm fine, thank you. But I do not have any money."

"Here, I can give you some." Kagome grabbed her wallet, grateful for some way to help the bloody stranger.

Kagome led her to the payphones and handed the girl a few hundred yen. The girl took the coins and bowed deeply, first to Inuyasha and then to Kagome.

"Thank you," she said. "I am very grateful to both of you for your assistance."

Kagome bowed back. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No. Thank you."

After a beat, Kagome recognized the dismissal. "Alright then!" she said. "We'll just get going then." She bowed again, and the two of them made for the store they'd come from.

The girl waited until the two were out of earshot before she began to dial. Staring at the boy with the white hair and the baseball cap, she waited a little longer than she would have normally, on a hunch. Eventually, she made her call.

"This is Hiro," the voice on the line said.

"Hello, it's Yazura. A client had a tantrum, and I need a pickup," the girl said. "Also, pass a message to the Madame for me."

"I'm sending a retrieval now. What's your message?"

"I met someone new here," Yazura told the phone. "He wore a beaded necklace, but no other jewelry. And he's definitely a demon."

* * *

Kagome sighed down at the receipt. Though she'd made an effort to only buy the cheapest options, getting Inuyasha an entire wardrobe was damn expensive. Two pairs of jeans, three shirts, dress pants and shirt, and dress shoes. Over twenty thousand yen was not a drop in the bucket for the Higurashis. _More like half the bucket for the month._

 _"_ I'm telling you, I really don't need all this." Inuyasha, back in his usual scarlet uniform, lifted the three bags he was carrying. "I've been wearing the fire-rat robes since I was a pup and they've suited me just fine."

"I know, I can smell them. And you're not going to do so well if you show up to job interviews wearing them."

Inuyasha shrugged. "I'll figure something out."

The bus pulled up and they boarded. It was cramped and hot in the bus, with no seats free despite the late hour. Kagome could feel Inuyasha bristling at the close, jostling bodies. She rubbed his arm sympathetically and he sighed, looking down at her. Standing so close to each other, chests nearly touching, Kagome was reminded of what had happened- what had almost happened- in the changing room. What was it? Lust? Love?

 _I really don't have time for this._ Kagome thought. She had to focus on her schoolwork, tutor some delinquent kid, prevent Inuyasha from accidentally destroying modern Tokyo, and figure out how to turn the well back on. She didn't need any more distractions.

But the swaying and turning of the bus pushed the two of them against each other, and Kagome wished they could stay like that for longer than the short ride home.

Eventually their stop came. Kagome led Inuyasha off the bus. They were only a block from Higurashi shrine. As the bus pulled away, a car with tinted windows pulled over and opened, spilling out four salarymen in suits and sunglasses. One of them circled around to Kagome.

"Excuse me miss, do you know how to get to Ginza from here?"

He'd placed himself so that Kagome's back was to the street, and Inuyasha. So she didn't see the dark car back up until it was right next to them, or when the doors opened suddenly, and the three suited men lunged at Inuyasha. With expert precision they pushed him into the open car.

Kagome whirled around at Inuyasha's "warg!" of surprise in time to see the doors shut and the car peal off with an angry squeal.

"What— Inuyasha!" Kagome ran a few paces toward the car, kicking past the dropped shopping bags. "Inuyasha!"

"Forgive us, miss, but your friend dangerous," said the last remaining suited man. "And my employer would like to speak to him."

* * *

"Please don't punch the windows."

Inuyasha turned and punched the window, ignoring the other people in the car. He slammed his fist at the glass with all his strength. It made a loud _WHAM_ but, miraculously, didn't break. It didn't even crack.

"What the hell!" he snarled, punching it again. "Kagome!" he turned to glare at the other passengers, fangs bared. "Who the hell are you people?"

The woman sat across the car from him, in the center of a ring of plush seats while her goons sat around her. She was plump, lounging casually in a short red dress with her legs crossed. Her hair was a brilliant orange. Her eyes were covered by dark sunglasses. Inuyasha couldn't see her eyes to tell if she was a kitsune, but she didn't smell like a demon. Actually, Inuyasha realized, sniffing, she didn't smell like anything at all.

"You've got a lot of nerve, deviant," the woman said.

Inuyasha punched the window again. Looking closer, he realized the dark glass was inscribed with sutras, and ofudas plastered the interior of the car. _Dammit._ No wonder he couldn't break through.

"Impressive concentration of youki," the woman drawled with a faint accent. She was pointing a small device at him, and seemed to be reading from it. "Though surprisingly low amounts, considering its potency. A half breed then?" She glanced up at his expression. "Thought so."

"Who are you?" Inuyasha demanded again. "Let me out!"

"No, boy, who are you?" The woman snapped. She took off her glasses to reveal strangely lidded green eyes. A foreigner.

"I don't know how old you are, you could be anywhere from fifteen to fifty. But either age is an impressive amount to remain hidden from the Bureau." The woman snorted. "Pun not intended."

Her goons chuckled silently.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm _talking_ about the fact that you're an unglamored demon walking around Tokyo _in flagrante_ , with his youki swinging out to slap the nuts of any human with a hint of spiritual pressure," the woman growled. She leaned forward and her glared icily into Inuyasha's eyes. "You did me a favor, and I don't want to kill you. So I will choose to assume that you are merely unregistered by the Hidden Bureau, rather than intentionally violating its laws."

Inuyasha blinked angrily. "Hidden- what?"

The woman lifted a single, delicately sculpted blond eyebrow. "You've been caught, boy. You can stop playing dumb."

"I'm not playing dumb!" Inuyasha snapped. "Are you saying there are other demons in this era?"

The woman paused. Slowly, she said, "Excuse me?"

Inuyasha didn't want to spill his life story to someone who had just _kidnapped_ him, but demons meant demon magic. Maybe there was someone who could fix the well... or send the two of them back in time by some other means if they couldn't.

"I am from the past, the Sengoku era," Inuyasha decided on. "So I don't know this time's stupid customs, or whatever you're talking about. I need to find someone who can send me back."

The woman stared at him, blinking, for long seconds before she leaned back, and exhaled.

"Time travel. Sure. Well, I've seen weirder." She bared her teeth in an icy smile. "In that case, you shouldn't have any problem with getting registered."

One of the goons raised an eyebrow. "You're buying this, Madame?"

"Of course not," Madame replied with a sniff. "But priority number one is getting him registered, and then the truth."

Inuyasha bared his teeth back, _not_ smiling. "It _is_ the truth."

"Prove it. Get registered with the Hidden Bureau."

"Fine, I will!" Inuyasha snapped. "...What does it mean to get registered?"

Madame sighed. "Alright. Let's pretend I believe you about this 'from the past' nonsense. I guess if you're claiming to be from the Sengoku era, you wouldn't have been around when the Hidden Bureau was created."

"When the Black Ships came in the nineteenth century, Japan started to trade ideas as well as material goods with the west. It produced a renaissance of demon slaying, of sorts. The humans developed strategies and weapons that were... _very_ effective. Much more...methodical." The woman pronounced the word with distaste.

"When we started dying out, we realized our only chance of survival was to hide or flee. The Hidden Bureau arose from those who stayed. It protects demons, from humans as well as each other. Any who live in the human world are required to hide their youki and demonic traits, and are registered on a list." She smiled nastily again. "That way, if a half-eaten human child shows up with spider-demon poison on the corpse, we know who to punish."

"Oh, and if you refuse to be registered, we'll kill you."

Inuyasha tensed up. He hadn't understood what she'd meant by 'Black Ships' and 'nineteenth century,' but violence and threats were his first language. Not that he could be killed by a puny human wo- "Wait, _we_ started dying? You're not a demon!"

Madame grinned widely. She removed a ring from her finger, and Inuyasha was forced back a step at the sudden fog of youki that filled the car. Her canines pointed into fangs, and her green eyes were now ruby-red.

"I told you, boy. We're hidden."

At first, the man tried to convince Kagome that Inuyasha was part of the yakuza.

"You may not know this, but that person you were with is actually involved in some serious criminal dealings," he said. "It is very dangerous for you to be around him, and for your safety…"

For a moment, Kagome was struck speechless by the utter _garbage_ the man was spewing. Inuyasha in the mafia? It was so ludicrous that for a fraction of a second she actually believed it.

"That is _bullshit!"_ Kagome screamed. "Where are you taking him?" Her rage triggered something, and she felt the pink glow of her power building in her hand.

The man glanced down at her hand and blanched. He took several hasty steps back. "W-w-wait, forgive me Priestess! We thought you were human! He- He's unregistered, and we thought he was a rogue demon, so—"

"What the heck? Unregistered where?"

The suited man swallowed visibly. "At the Hidden Bureau's demon registry, I see now it must have been a technical error, uh, I'm sure the Madame will clear it right up, Priestess!"

As the man babbled, Kagome narrowed her eyes. Hidden Bureau? Rogue demon? Did that mean there was such a thing as _non-_ rogue demons?

Looked like she owed Inuyasha an apology. There were demons in modern Tokyo. Their efforts to fix the well had just taken a great leap forward.

"Then where is he now?" Kagome interrupted the suit's babbling. She was growing more concerned by the fact Inuyasha hadn't punched his way out of the car by now. _I guess these really are demons we're dealing with._

"He's, uh, being interviewed by my boss, because we thought—"

"Yes, yes, you thought he was a rogue demon. When are they bringing him back?"

"Uh, actually, if this was just a mistake he should have been returned by now." The man eyed Kagome's pink, glowing hand nervously. "Are...are you certain he's registered, Priestess?"

Kagome didn't answer, just narrowed her eyes at the suit until he took another step back. She gathered up the shopping bags that had fallen during Inuyasha's kidnapping. She sat down at the bus stop bench, and then turned to look at man.

"Don't you leave," she commanded, pointing a glowing finger. To her surprise, a string of pink energy shot out and wrapped itself around the man's neck. _Is he a demon?_ Kagome couldn't sense any demonic presence, but her powers didn't work on humans. The man made a sad gurgling whimper.

"Because if Inuyasha is not returned to me unharmed, you'd better tell your 'employer' that _there will be hell to pay_."

As the demon squeaked and promised that he was sure everything would be resolved peacefully, Priestess, Kagome noticed a familiar dark car coming up the road. It pulled up to the sidewalk. A chauffeur circled around and opened the sidewalk door. Inuyasha stepped out, looking dazed.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped, running to him and grabbing his arms. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"Keh! As if. I'm fine. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, they didn't touch me." Kagome let out a sigh of relief. "That was so scary, how they just grabbed you like that! And when you didn't bust right out…" She turned to glare at the demon man, glowing pink collar around his neck, who was trying to edge toward the car without her noticing. With a flick of her finger, Kagome dissolved the leash. The demon man dived into the car like a bat out of hell- or a demon bat back into hell, she supposed.

"Hey, you don't need to worry about me. It's my job to protect _you_ ," Inuyasha said. But his glance back at the car was apprehensive.

"We'll see you tomorrow, kid." A female voice emanated from within the car. "And if you're thinking of escape, save yourself- and us- the trouble and don't."

Someone from inside the car pulled the door shut and it pulled away, absorbed into the traffic. As they walked home, Inuyasha told Kagome everything that had happened in the car.

"Then she put this on me," he explained, holding up a wrist to reveal a simple band made of braided twine. "It's like these damn beads, I can't get it off. She said it's a tracker, and they'll use it to find me and register me tomorrow. And get 'fitted for a glamour,' whatever that means."

"Huh," Kagome said, examining the bracelet. She could feel a strange spiritual pressure emanating from it. She grabbed the twine in her fingers with both hands and pulled. With a little resistance, the braid snapped.

"What! How did you— I can uproot a _tree,_ but I couldn't break that!"

Kagome smirked. "Must be my feminine charm." She tied the bracelet around his wrist. "But it might be useful for them to believe it's still on you, for now."

Inuyasha nodded. "She said as a registered demon I'll have access to all their public records- they might have something about the well, Kagome!"

Kagome sighed. "That's what I was thinking." _More research. Great._ She really was happy about this new development, but she had enough school work without adding any more... extracurriculars. "I guess we can start looking tomorrow."

Inuyasha nodded, smiling. "Finally! I can't wait to leave this stupid era and go _home_."

"Hey, my era's not stupid! Or at least no more stupid than yours." Kagome elbowed him playfully in the side. He grinned at her, taking the abuse with a snort. "But if this Hidden Bureau's records are anything like the human government, finding the information we need won't be easy."

Inuyasha's smile faded. "But we'll find it."

"That's right. We'll find it."

* * *

SUNDAY

By the time the demons came the next day, Inuyasha was prepared. He sat in a leafy tree, Tetsusaiga belted at his waist, watching the entrance of the shrine. When a group of three came just after dawn, two of them smelling like nothing at all, Inuyasha jumped down to block their path.

They looked like normal humans, and one of them even smelled it. The real human took a startled step backwards when Inuyasha landed in front of them.

"Ah, you must be our demon, then," said a demon carrying a large briefcase. His glamour turned him into an achingly average-looking salaryman. He held out his hand. "I'm Seichiro. Pleasure to meet you."

Inuyasha stared at the hand. Seichiro pulled it back.

"...Right. Well then, let's get started, shall we? Can you take us somewhere we won't be interrupted?"

Inuyasha took the group to a secluded area near the Higurashi storage sheds, where they wouldn't easily be seen by worshipers, but were visible from Kagome's window.

"Okay, first you'll need to fill out some basic information." Seichiro handed Inuyasha a packet of forms.

"What the hell is this?" Inuyasha asked, squinting at the tiny script. "It barely looks like Japanese. How'd the scribe write it so small?" It must have been the same one who'd written Kagome's spellbooks.

The two demons shared a look. The other one was a stout woman with a short haircut. "You're still sticking with that whole 'from the past' story?" She asked sarcastically. She explained to the other two. "That's this yahoo's excuse for why he's unregistered. Time travel."

"I'm right here, you know," Inuyasha growled. "And it's the truth!"

"...Whatever." Seichiro handed Inuyasha a pen. "Just fill it out."

Seichiro began assembling some machine out of his briefcase as Inuyasha tried to fill out the questions.

Name. Alright, that wasn't difficult. Date of Birth, (Gregorian.) Shit, he had no idea. And what was 'Gregorian?' He put down the name of the Emperor during his time. It was off by about 50 years, thanks to Kikyo, but he couldn't remember anything else. And he really didn't give a crap. Species. Dog? He wrote it down.

"You'll want to add in that you're a hanyo over there." The female demon pointed, looking over his shoulder.

"You'll want to mind your own business," Inuyasha muttered, and moved so that she couldn't see the paper. He continued filling it out, understanding most of it. (But what did they mean by blood type? Demonic? Red?)

After two pages of stupid questions, the form started over, asking the same thing about both his parents. Inuyasha threw the packet down.

"This is ridiculous! I'm done," he shouted. "Who actually cares about this stuff?"

Seichiro gathered up the papers and browsed through them. "The better our records, the safer we can keep the yokai community." He handed them back to Inuyasha. "You'll need to fill in at least one parent, or data on whoever raised you, if you don't know."

Inuyasha snatched the packet back, grumbling. He'd fill in what he could about his father. Not his mother. "There, I'm done. I'm not doing any more."

Seichiro looked through the papers again. "You left 'address' empty."

"You can address me however you like, but I am the son of a demon lord, so "Lord Inuyasha" if it means that much to ya."

The two demons shared another look, before Seichiro turned his eyes back to Inuyasha. "It means where you live," Seichiro said slowly.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Fine. Then write down this place. Higurashi shrine."

Both demons raised their eyebrows and turned to look at the human, a tall, young man in a suit. He shook his head.

"Impossible. Higurashi Shrine is totally unaffiliated with the Hidden Bureau. There hasn't been a priest with real power here in a hundred years."

Inuyasha smirked. He could sense this man's spiritual pressure. Kagome could obliterate this twerp in a second. "Well, there sure is now. And I live here with her."

The human raised a single, condescending eyebrow. "The Holy Registry tests all children of shrine families for power, and Higurashi has always been a dud. Just because your girlfriend is a good lay doesn't mean she can compare to a real priest."

Inuyasha stood up and approached the priest. He growled low in his throat and cracked his knuckles. "What the fuck did you say?"

"You heard me, demon."

The demon woman leaped in between Inuyasha and the man. "Back off, halfbreed," she hissed, shoving Inuyasha backwards.

Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga. "Half-breed or not, I'll still kick your ass!" The human looked nervous at the sight of the giant fang, but the demon woman just sneered.

"Alright Rei, let's cool it down here," Seichiro said to the demoness.

"No, let's not," Rei said. She took a ring off her finger, and suddenly she didn't look human at all.

Brown fur covered her body, which had doubled in size, and fearsome tusks sprouted from her mouth. She smelled real now, too, and Inuyasha could sense her youki. A boar demon.

"I haven't gotten any real exercise in ages," Rei went on, "and this brat could use some humbling." Inuyasha could feel himself grinning. He missed this: tense nerves, rushing adrenaline. It had been a while since he'd gotten real exercise, too.

Rei rushed forward to punch Inuyasha in the stomach. She was faster than the average boar demon, but Inuyasha was faster. When she tried to follow up with another punch, Inuyasha slashed at her face with his claws. She roared with pain and jumped back.

"Iron reaver, soul stealer!" The force of Inuyasha's attack lifted the demon off her feet and sent her tumbling into a storage shed, shaking the building. Her clothing was ripped and bloody but Rei seemed unfazed. She got up onto all fours and charged.

'Alright, let's do it then," Inuyasha murmured. He lifted Tetsusaiga. "Wind S-!"

An arrow shot past Rei and then Inuyasha, landing in the dirt behind him. Rei let out an angry squeal as she turned to avoid it. The arrow's pink force field grazed the fang, transforming it into a rusty old katana.

"Hey, you almost hit me!" Inuyasha turned around to snap.

Kagome stood by the shed in her pajamas and slippers, quiver slung over her arm. She pulled another arrow back in her bow and aimed it at Rei. "Sorry about that, I'm out of practice. Who are these...people?"

"Sohei, calm down Rei," Seichiro ordered, standing up from his contraption. He approached Kagome carefully, staying out of the arrow's line of fire. "Please, we mean you no harm, Priestess."

"That's not how it looked to me." Kagome kept the bow drawn, glaring at the demoness.

"I apologize for my associate's behavior. She will be disciplined, I assure you. If you would just put down your weapon…"

"It's alright Kagome, she was pretty weak," Inuyasha said, sheathing Tetsusaiga. He jumped over to stand between her and Seichiro. With one last wary look at Rei, Kagome relaxed the drawn bow. Seichiro let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, now comes the final and most important part of registration," Seichiro explained, with a few nervous looks in Kagome's direction. He pointed to his contraption. "This device will capture a sample of your DNA and youki. In the event that you're involved in a crime, this will help us resolve the issue and protect you from human investigation."

'And kill you if you were the culprit' went unsaid, but Inuyasha could feel the words hanging in the air.

"Doesn't that violate privacy rights?" asked Kagome. "He's not a criminal. Technically."

Seichiro looked at Kagome, startled. "You really aren't part of the Holy Registry, are you?"

"I never said I was."

"Well..." he sighed. "Such rights don't apply to demons. Now, sir, if you would just put your hand here..." Seichiro indicated a metal plate on his machine. Inuyasha set his hand on it.

" _Ow god_ damn it!" Inuyasha pulled his hand back sharply.

"Sorry, that was the blood sample. But the youki part won't hurt."

Inuyasha put his hand back down.

" _OW damn_ sh—"

"Sorry, forgot about the tissue sample," Seichiro said as Inuyasha flapped his bleeding hand. "This part won't cause any pain, really."

Inuyasha glared at the demon. "It better not, or I damn sure will."

Inuyasha put his hand down on the metal plate. It didn't hurt this time, but it felt weird. Like his breath was being sucked out of his lungs, but with his entire body. It stopped, and suddenly his cells could breathe again.

"Alright, we're almost done." Seichiro began to disassemble his machine. "Sohei! Come remove his tracker."

The priest, who had been murmuring spells to hold back Rei until she calmed down, now sauntered over.

"Oh, Kagome already did that." Inuyasha held up the broken bracelet.

"What?! But only an A-rank priest-" Sohei began, but stopped at Inuyasha's smug smirk. He scowled. "Alright half-breed, if she's so great, why can't she put a glamour on you?"

"A what?" Kagome asked.

"An illusion to hide his eyes and ears from humans." Sohei's sneer and upturned nose added, _You idiot._ "Even the most incompetent of Holy Registrants would know that."

Kagome reached out to grab Inuyasha's arm before he strangled the little prick. "Don't," she murmured.

"You want a ring, bracelet, or necklace?" Seichiro asked. Inuyasha blinked at him.

"Bracelet," Kagome answered for him. Seichiro grabbed a simple silver band and tossed it to Inuyasha.

"What's this for?" He asked as he clasped it around his wrist.

"Hides your scent and youki," Siechiro explained distractedly. "Sohei, the glamour?"

With a sneer at Kagome, Sohei raised two fingers to form a spell. With some muttered words, spiritual power swirled from his fingertips around Inuyasha, focused on his new bracelet. The twirling blue energy felt like a thousand tiny ants crawling over Inuyasha's skin. Sudden pain enveloped his body, mild at first, but intensifying. It felt like millions of tiny stab wounds on his skin and organs. He jerked in startled pain. _Get it off, get it off,_

"Get it off!" Inuyasha shouted. He ripped off the bracelet. The pain and itching stopped. Inuyasha glared at the broken band, gasping, and then whirled on Sohei.

"Th-that wasn't me, I promise!" Sohei held up his hands and backed up.

"Inuyasha, wait." Seichiro said. "He really didn't do it. Some demons just don't take well to glamours." He tossed Inuyasha another bracelet from his bag, sighing. "You' still need to hide your demonic presence. As for the rest…wear a hat, I suppose. And colored contacts."

As Inuyasha fixed the bracelet on his wrist and Seichiro cleaned up, Rei slowly walked back to them. She had her disguising ring back on, but the front of her shirt was ripped and bloody. Inuyasha rested a hand on Tetsusaiga warningly.

"Hey. You're...stronger than me," she said to Inuyasha. She stared at him intensely, but not angrily

"Uh, yeah. So? You wanna fight again?"

She waved the offer away. "Yeah, but that's not what I was getting at. You like to fight? You good?"

"Uh...I guess."

"You want a job? Pays three thousand yen an hour."

Kagome jumped forward. "He'll take it!" And then, after a beat, "What kind of job?"

Rei took a business card from her pocket and handed it to Inuyasha. "Go there tomorrow night and ask for Abezawa. Tell 'em I sent you…" she grinned. "Or just beat 'em up."

Kagome took the card. It had English words printed in large, sleek letters, with a smaller address in Japanese and a phone number underneath.

"Night...Crimson? What is that?"

"Rei! Let's go, I'm already late enough," Sohei called. Rei rolled her eyes and growled.

"Just go there after nine tomorrow night. You'll find out."

* * *

It wasn't until after dinner that day, as Kagome finished the last of her weekend homework and Inuyasha fiddled with his new jewelry on Kagome's bed, that she remembered.

"Oh no!" Kagome gasped, dropping her pencil. Inuyasha jumped up, hand on his hilt.

"What is it?!"

"We forgot to ask them about accessing public records," Kagome moaned, dropping her head into her hands. "Did those people leave any way of contacting them, this morning?

Inuyasha slapped his forehead. "Dammit," he whispered. "No, they didn't. Nothing except..." he looked at the business card Rei had given him, now lying on Kagome's desk.

Kagome raised her eyebrows. "Well," she said. "If you weren't already planning to check that place out, I guess we don't have much of a choice now."

* * *

On Monday, Kagome could barely concentrate on her schoolwork. All she could think about was the Hidden Bureau. An entire government of demons, in modern Tokyo this whole time! And what the heck kind of job did they want Inuyasha for that paid three thousand an hour? That was more money than her mom made.

With a heavy sigh, Kagome forced her mind back to the blackboard. If she was going to tutor someone tonight, she'd need to understand the material.

After the final school bell rang, Kagome stretched gratefully. Why was she voluntarily staying in a chair for another two hours, again? _So you can pass ninth grade?_ Oh right. That.

She got up and went to Yuka's desk, where Eri and Ayumi had already drifted.

"So! How about a celebratory visit to WacDonalds, in order to celebrate Kagome managing to stay in school for an entire week?" Yuka asked, slamming her hands down on her desk like gavels. "Since _someone_ " she mock glared at Kagome, "was so _rudely_ held back by a teacher for like, forever on Friday."

"I wish!" cried Kagome. "But that's actually what Hasegawa was talking to me about. I'm going to be staying late every day from now on, to tutor some dude for extra credit."

"Ugh, gross, that sucks," Eri winced sympathetically.

"I know." Kagome glanced at the clock. "I've got to be in room 9-C in two minutes, I'll see you later. I hope you think of me with every WacBite you take."

Eri pantomimed tearfully biting into a burger. Kagome laughed and left the room.

9-C was down the hall from her own classroom. Kagome noticed that the door was ajar; looked like her pupil was already there. She opened the door.

"Hello, Morika— _Ow_!"

A plastic container full of chalk and chalk dust had been held up in the door. It hit her square on the head when she opened it. The dust flew everywhere- in her nose, her mouth, her eyes. She immediately began coughing, so hard she could hardly breathe.

"Oh my g- shit, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Fuck, hold on-"

There was a boy in the room. He jumped up from his chair when Kagome came in and got hit by the prank. Now he was hovering in front of her, hands waving uselessly.

"Did you—" Kagome began, but just inhaling to speak sucked up more chalk dust. She coughed wildly.

"Hold on—" the boy said, and raced out of the room. He returned seconds later with wet paper towels from a bathroom. "Here, try breathing through these."

Kagome put the towels over her mouth, still hacking up chalk dust. It was a few minutes before her lungs decided she'd been punished enough, and allowed her to get a sentence out.

"Are you," she gasped. "Are you the one who put that chalk up there?"

"Well yeah, but- I wasn't expecting anyone to come in! I mean, I'm meeting with my tutor now, but he always sees those things. And even when he doesn't, he doesn't practically hack up his lungs, like you did."

The boy froze and held his hands over his mouth in horror. "Oh shit," he whispered. "I completely forgot that Sugou was quitting. Are you my new tutor?"

Kagome wiped her eyes, which were streaming from the chalk dust. "Yes, I'm Kagome Higurashi. You're Natsuo Morikawa?"

"Yeah. Uh...nice to meet you."

"...Ditto."

They stood at the entrance of the room, Natsuo wringing his hands as Kagome wiped chalk from her face. She was mostly successful.

"Alright, we may as well get started," Kagome said, before the awkwardness could solidify any more and suffocate her. She plopped her bag on a desk and pulled out her notes. Natsuo pulled himself onto a desk and sat, swinging his legs. He looked younger than fifteen, despite his lip and eyebrow piercings. His hair was styled so that it was poofy on the top and front, but short on the sides, like a miniature pompadour. His uniform was unbuttoned, and Kagome could see what could have been a tattoo on his collarbone peeking out from beneath his shirt.

"I wasn't expecting a girl. All my other tutors have been guys," he said.

"Yeah, well, here I am. Do you have any notes?"

Natsuo shook his head. "Nah, I usually just make copies of yours. Well, Sugou's. After you explain it to me." He hopped off the desk and went to the window. "Oh, look at that! Man, birds are weird."

"Hey, come on!" Kagome snapped, still irritated by the chalk in her throat and eyes. She slammed her palm down on the desk. "Can you sit down and focus please? The faster we get through this, the faster we can both leave. But if you're always going to be bouncing off the walls like this just let me know now, so you don't waste any more of my time!"

Natsuo, wide eyed, sat down at the desk in front of her. "Sorry."

Kagome huffed. "Alright, let's just get this over with."

She began to explain the day's lessons. The kid was a quick study, when he paid attention. Natsuo's attention bounced away from the material like repulsing magnets that Kagome, exhausted, kept pushing together. But when he focused, Kagome only had to explain something once.

"Wow, you're pretty smart!" she said. He'd solved a math problem with one explanation that she'd needed the whole class to understand.

He leaned back in his chair, smirking. "I know."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "And full of it, apparently."

Natsuo grinned. "One could even say…" he clicked his tongue and made finger guns at her. " _Chalk_ full of it."

Kagome laughed. "No, but seriously. You don't need tutoring. Why are you here?"

Natsuo's smile faded, and he looked coldly out the window. "Let's just say...the school and I have an arrangement." He looked back at her, smiling again. "That, or our meeting was meant to be. We could _chalk_ _it up_ to fate."

Kagome snorted. "Don't try to pull that on me, your puns are _powderless_."

Natsuo patted her on the arm. "That was a good try."

By the time they covered everything, school had been out for a little over two hours. Kagome stretched gratefully. What she wouldn't give for a nice, three-day hike across Japan...

"Good work, Morikawa. It was nice to meet you. And I mean it this time."

Natsuo laughed. "I meant it the first time! And you can call me Natsuo, if you want."

"Oh! Um, alright," Kagome said. He was just a very friendly person, she guessed? "Then I'll see you tomorrow, Natsuo."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow, Higurashi."

* * *

Inuyasha was not lost. He had followed Mrs. Higurashi's instructions to the letter, he was sure of it. His only problem now was that he had no idea where he was or where he was supposed to go.

He knew he should've taken Kagome. But Mrs. Higurashi had taken one look at the address on the business card and frowned.

"That's not a good neighborhood," she said. "I really wouldn't be comfortable with Kagome going there at night."

Inuyasha wondered if Mrs. Higurashi knew exactly what they did when Kagome went through the well. But he was a guest at their house, and he could manage on his own, so he didn't argue the point. And he _could_ manage on his own; it wasn't his fault the modern era was so stupidly big and loud and cramped that he couldn't see for crap.

The city was full of buildings that stretched up to the night sky, all blazing lights from their windows. They cast strange shadows on the dark street, where cars zoomed past and people walked with their heads down.

Inuyasha squinted at the instructions Mrs. Higurashi had written for him. He was certain he'd taken the right train (after some mixups), and the right transfer (after fewer mixups.) (He hated trains.) He was glad he'd left so early. "That way, you'll have time to explore the city," Mrs. Higurashi had said, which he was now realizing actually meant "so you'll have time to get lost." But he'd taken the last turn written on the paper, and he was out of directions.

Inuyasha growled, scraping his talons against the side of a building. None of the buildings on this block stood out. How did people find anything in this era? What a waste of four hours of his life. No— this whole damn week. He was trapped in time, wasting time.

With no other leads to follow, Inuyasha took a big sniff out of the air, hoping for a clue. What he got was a whole lot of nothing. _Dammit_.

As he walked down the street, hoping for something to stand out, a swish of dark fabric under a street light caught his eye. It was a sailor uniform, the same design as the one worn by the girl he'd rescued at the mall. If this place was as dangerous as Mrs. Higurashi had said, what the hell was a kid like that doing here at night?

The face of the girl in the uniform was unfamiliar. Next to her was a woman in short shorts and knee-high boots, her arm resting languidly over the girl's shoulder. As they walked closer, Inuyasha breathed in. The girl smelled normal- sweat and fabric and human female. But the woman…

...smelled like nothing at all.

Inuyasha smirked. Bingo.

"Hey, you," he began as the pair approached.

"I have a boyfriend," she woman said, breezing past. The girl under her arm giggled.

"That's not—" Inuyasha jumped in front of her. "Hey! I was going to ask you if you knew where Night Crimson is!"

The woman looked Inuyasha up and down contemptuously. "You a tourist or something?"

"A what? No."

"Then do you live under a rock? It's back there." The woman gestured up the street where she'd come from. "Front entrance is around the corner."

Inuyasha looked toward where she'd waved. Alright, a lead was a lead, no matter how vague.

"You know—" he began.

"I don't care," the woman drawled back. She pushed past him and walked on, whispering to her human companion. "Stupid tourists."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. At least he knew where he was going, sort of.

He walked up the street. There was a sound pulsing in the air. He'd thought it was just ambient noise of the modern era, but as he approached the end of the street, Inuyasha realized it was coming from a building around the corner. It was a deep, booming beat, with a frenetic melody barely audible above it. _Music_?

The building it was coming from was dark red brick, except for the blazing red letters at its height. They were a swirling, jumping script in a language Inuyasha couldn't read. In the same bright red light underneath were the smaller Japanese words _Night Crimson._

There was a line of people in front of the entrance. Was Inuyasha supposed to wait in line? Forget that, he'd wasted enough of his night already. He walked to the open doors.

A human man moved to block him. "Back of the line, kid."

"I'm here to see Abezawa. Rei sent me."

The guard raised his eyebrows. "Inoshishi did?" He pressed a button on some device and spoke into his shoulder. "Could I get someone down at the front entrance? There's some kid here who says he has a meeting with Abezawa. Says Inoshishi sent him."

"Hey, I've also got a meeting with Abezawa!" one of the men in line said.

"Yeah, Inoichi sent me too!"

As the guard shouted at the people in line, Inuyasha didn't wait. He pushed past the human, shoving him and his protests out of the way with ease. But before he could enter the door a slim woman wearing the same black uniform emerged out of the smoky building. She had no youki, but her fire red hair floated over pointed ears, and the pupils in her green eyes were vertical slits. She laughed when she saw Inuyasha.

"Nice cosplay, buddy. You're doing a great job at the whole 'not standing out' thing." She jerked her head towards the inside. "Follow me."

Inside, the building was dark, only dimly lit by a rainbow of colors. The lights on the ceiling and floor pulsed in time with the music. They made colorful beams through the smoke, though Inuyasha could smell no fire, so he didn't know where it was coming from. The whole building seemed to be a giant room filled with people. They danced and gyrated, filling the air with the scents of sweat and lust. The floor itself was broken up by raised and lowered areas, stages and pits. Some people drank and rested at tables near the walls.

Inuyasha followed the woman through the ocean of bodies. She slipped with fluid grace between them, heading to a bar that spanned almost the entire wall of the room. Inuyasha followed more like a bulldozer as he shoved people aside.

"What is this place?" he shouted over the music. She waved her hand as if to say 'later, later.' Approaching the bar, she waved a hand at a bartender, who waved back. Inuyasha followed her as she went behind the bar, and then through a camouflaged door behind it.

When she shut the door, the music suddenly went quiet.

"Soundproof," the woman said with a grin, knocking on the door. "And thank god for that."

The hallway they'd entered was as different from the room they'd just left as day was from night. It was a brightly lit hallway with whitewashed walls, and simple wooden doors running along it.

"What was that?" Inuyasha asked.

"What was what?"

"That room we just left."

The guard woman looked at Inuyasha with a confused expression. "What do you mean? The club?" She shrugged. "It's a normal club, to most people. Most of our customers are human. Most of the staff, too."

She looked slyly back at Inuyasha as she led him up some stairs, like they were sharing a secret. "Of course, it's the only club in Tokyo that caters to our kind, so it isn't actually normal. But we try to provide the same services humans can get anywhere, and then some. But I guess you must have known that, since you came here. Or were you only coming because it's the HB's headquarters?"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. She didn't seem to need any help from Inuyasha to continue on the conversation. "No, that can't be right, since you're meeting with Abezawa, who's head of club security. Not to mention, you should have come during normal office hours for any other business."

She stopped in front of a door, indistinguishable from the others except for the small plate that read, 'Director of Club Security' on it. She knocked twice and opened it. "Ms. Abezawa? There's a man here who says he has a meeting with you."

The woman behind the door was a thin, severe-looking person, her gray hair pulled into a short ponytail. She was sitting behind a desk, looking at some papers. She didn't look up to say "I don't have a meeting scheduled."

"He mentioned you by name, and said that Rei sent him."

That got her attention. Abezawa looked up from her papers, narrowing her eyes at Inuyasha. "And what did she tell you, exactly?"

"She said I could get a job that pays three thousand an hour. "

Abezawa barked out a laugh. "And that's it? You could be selling yourself into prostitution for all you know."

Inuyasha folded his arms. "Since she offered it to me because she seemed to think I could fight, I don't think so."

Abezawa raised her eyebrows. She seemed genuinely surprised. "Is that so? Inoshishi Rei thought you were strong?" Inuyasha nodded.

Abezawa let out a harrumph. "Inoshishi was offering you a position as a member of Night Crimson's security team— a bouncer. Among other things. Not that she has the authority to do that. Since Night Crimson serves...individuals... who are physically much stronger than humans, of course qualifications for the position requires significant strength. As it so happens, we do indeed have an opening, a fact Inoshishi must have known.

"Of course, you can only get the job if you're strong enough."

Inuyasha smirked. "I am strong enough."

"Hmph." Abezawa leaned back in her chair. "Prove it then." She gestured with a hand.

The guard woman suddenly lunged at Inuyasha, inch long claws aimed at his eyes. Inuyasha grabbed her arm before she could touch him and flung her to the floor in front of the desk. He reached for his sword- nothing. _Dammit, I am taking Tetsusaiga with me next time, to hell with Kagome's complaints!_

"Thank you, Kimiko," Abezawa said as the guard woman rose. Kimiko rubbed her shoulder, but she was smiling.

"Not bad!" she chirped.

"You're hired, then, if you want the job," Abezawa sighed. She looked back to her papers. "Kimiko, please take him to payroll and get him set up."

* * *

By the time Kagome got home, Inuyasha was gone. She shouldn't have been surprised. Inuyasha had been going stir crazy this past week, and the fight with the boar demon yesterday had only whetted his appetite.

"Welcome home," Sota said as she came in. And as she walked past him, "why do you smell like chalk?"

"Skip it," Kagome growled. "Where's Inuyasha?"

Sota shrugged. "He went out somewhere. Mom gave him train directions downtown. He left about fifteen minutes ago, I think."

"The train? Really? I can't believe he'd take it willingly."

Sota shrugged again. "I don't know how she convinced him, but you know mom."

Inuyasha wasn't home for dinner, and still hadn't arrived by the time she went to bed. _Well **,**_ she thought. _If anything's happened, I suppose we'll find out about it on the news tomorrow._

Kagome woke up shivering the next morning to the sound of birdsong, instead of the shrill shriek of her alarm clock. Her window was wide open. On the floor next to her bed, his head bowed to his chest, slept Inuyasha. She let out a sigh of relief. Home safe. As she knew he would be.

Kagome sat up slowly, not wanting to make any noise and wake him up. But as she rose and saw more of him than silver hair and the sheathed fang peeking out over his shoulders, she let out a small gasp.

Inuyasha's eyes shot open and he grabbed Tetsusaiga's hilt. "Mm," he grunted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Kagome whispered, stepping out of bed to get a better look at him. "I just- what are you _wearing_?"

Gone were the red haori and hakama. Inuyasha was dressed in a slim outfit of unremarkable black pants and a black button-down, with a small red "NC" stitched over the breast. It reminded Kagome of giving a fluffy dog a bath. Without the poofy clothing, Inuyasha seemed to have shrunk three sizes. He looked more like a kid her age than a mythical creature of the ancient past. A black baseball cap lay discarded on the floor next to him.

"I went to that place last night," Inuyasha began.

"Night Crimson?"

"And they put me right to work. But I had to wear their clothing." He shrugged. "It's not so bad."

"What time did you come home?"

Inuyasha glanced out the window. "The sun was rising by the time I got back."

Kagome noticed the dark circles under Inuyasha's eyes. She remembered that this was someone who lived in a world without electric lights, who slept and rose with the sun.

"I'll ask you all about it when I get home," Kagome whispered, patting his shoulder. "Go back to sleep. Oh! But did you get information on where the Bureau's records are?"

Inuyasha grin was exhausted and triumphant. "They've got a records room that goes back hundreds of years. We can go there any time we want."

* * *

OMAKE:

"Here's your uniform." Kimiko looked Inuyasha over with an expert eye, and grabbed three uniforms in his size out of the store room cubbies. "You can keep them here and change when you arrive, or keep them at home, but don't let them get dirty except at work."

"You mean this is the only thing I have to wear for work?" Inuyasha asked, pawing through the black garments.

"Yep."

Inuyasha threw his head back and groaned. "You mean all that shopping we did was for nothing?"

"We? Who took you, your girlfriend?"

"Uh, yeah."

Kimiko shot Inuyasha a look as cool and dry as a winter wind. "Unless you weren't a whiny baby the whole time," she said, "she probably enjoyed it. And that's never a waste."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inuyasha humiliates a teenager. Kagome runs into some trouble. Shippo makes a friend. Sango is dangerously careless.

TUESDAY

Sango sat on a rotting tower, looking out over a wall of spikes. Her hand meandered up and down Hiraikotsu as she stared at the small dirt path almost hidden by leafy trees.

The days she'd spent in the demon slayers' compound, alone but for the ghosts of her family, had been…significant. It was the longest she'd been there since-

Sang blinked rapidly. Death had always been a part of her life, in her clan's line of work. _Accept it and move on._ That's what she'd always been taught was the best response to grief, but the trite advice wasn't doing much for her now. She cleared her eyes so she wouldn't miss any hint of the demon cat with a monk astride it.

It hadn't taken her long to find what she was looking for. The slayers' records were organized with thorough, scientific precision, all thanks to one person. Maybe if Imiya had been a better slayer than librarian, she'd still be alive today.

The angry bray of a horse cut through the silence of the forest.

"He _didn't,"_ Sango muttered to herself, straining to see through the leaves. Did he…?

Sure enough, before long she could see Miroku, leading a horse that was laden with saddle bags. Kilala sat contentedly on its back. Sango raced down the watchtower steps. She finished opening the gate as he drew near.

"Sango!" Miroku cried, throwing out his arms. "What a sight for sore eyes! I've missed you terri-"

"Who's horse is this?!"

"Oh, this?" Miroku looked at the horse as if he'd forgotten it was there. "Why, it's mine of course." He held his hand over his heart. "Sango! Are you implying that you suspect me of horse thievery?"

Sango rolled her eyes. "Thievery, no. Extortion maybe."

Miroku explained as Sango led him into the compound. "This horse was an honest gift for a job well done. A minor lord gave it to me in payment for protecting his lovely daughter from the dark cloud that had appeared above her-"

Sango clonked his head with Hiraikotsu. "You were _supposed_ to be searching for Naraku! Not hitting on princesses! Why do you even need a horse when you had Kilala?"

"Sometimes a fellow needs a normal, non-deadly demon mount!" Miroku protested. He rubbed his head. "I did hear something interesting, though I found nothing about Naraku. I'll save it for when we get back to the village. Lady Kaede might have something helpful to contribute. And how was your quest? Did you learn anything that will help with the well, or that feral child?"

Sango nodded. "I learned a lot of things, but I can't say for certain until I gather some more information. We'll need to return to Lady Kaede's village for that too."

"Perhaps we'll get lucky and Inuyasha and Kagome will already be there waiting for us," Miroku sighed.

After resting for a bit in the compound, they set out for Kaede's village. With the skittish horse trying to pull Miroku's arm off at every cracking branch, their journey was almost as exhausting as their usual pace, despite Inuyasha's absence. They set out from the compound in late morning and arrived in the village as dusk was falling.

Kilala leaped ahead as they approached the houses. Shippo was playing with his tops at edge of the village where they came up.

"Kilala!" he cheered as the nekomata leaped into his arms. He ran and jumped into Sango's arms. "You're back!"

She hugged him, grinning. "We're back! Did you take care of the village while we were gone?"

"Yeah! I helped Lady Kaede exorcise some rat demons that almost ate O-Kisa!"

Miroku glanced at Sango. "Should we be worried that he sounds so excited about that last part?"

When they arrived at Kaede's hut, she greeted them warmly.

"It's always good to know another day has passed without ye fool kids getting killed," she grumbled, ladling out bowls of soup. "I don't suppose ye've discovered the problem with the bone-eater's well, have ye?"

"I did discover something interesting," Miroku said. "While on my travels, I stayed at a monastery where I explained- discreetly, of course- our little problem with the well. The monks there said the only record of time travel they'd ever seen was the story of Urashima Taro, who arrived three centuries in the future after sojourning in the under-sea palace of the dragon god Ryujin. Perhaps-"

Kaede shook her head. "Nay, it can't be that. The dragon god is the lord of the sea. He'd not work his influence so far inland."

Miroku stared at her. He looked back down at his soup. "...Damn."

"Not to mention," Sango put in as she sipped her soup, "Urashima Taro didn't travel in time. His mind and body were frozen by one of Ryujin's underlings for three hundred years.* Apparently an ancestor of mine worked alongside it." She looked up at Kaede and Miroku's surprised faces. "What? I've been reading a lot the past week."

Kaede sighed. "In all my life, the bone eater's well has never failed to deliver the bones of slain demons from us. Whatever blocks Kagome and Inuyasha from returning to us, it blocks them, and only them, consciously.

Sango stared at the ceiling. "It's true, Kagome's _backpack_ came through. But what's changed recently?" Well, maybe two mysteries could make an answer. "Lady Kaede, do you know of a village child named Sachi?"

"Aye, I know the one."

"How long has she lived here? I don't think I'd seen her before last week."

Kaede considered. "She's lived here for almost a month now. The child wandered into the village, just stepped out of the forest one day. Many were certain that she was a demon, though the girl's as human as ye and I. It's a miracle she wasn't killed, out there by herself."

"She wasn't by herself," Shippo put in around a spoonful of soup. "She's friends with demons, somehow. I didn't believe it either, before I saw them myself."

"What?" Sango blinked at Shippo in surprise. "You saw them?"

"I thought she was just delusional," Miroku murmured.

Shippo nodded, basking in the attention. "That's what I thought too, at first," he said. "Here's what happened."

* * *

The day after Miroku brought him home, Shippo was _bored._ He'd wanted to travel with Miroku, but apparently Mirokue "couldn't give him the attention he deserved," and "needed to focus on the mission." Shippo had protested that he was a demon, he could take care of himself. Miroku wouldn't budge. Shippo figured it was more because he'd get in the way of the monk seducing and swindling innkeepers' daughters than anything to do with taking care of him.

So now he was lying on the roof of Kaede's cottage, staring at clouds and feeling his brain melt.

"Hey, you!" called a familiar voice. Shippo peeked over the edge of the roof. The grubby girl stood behind the hut, glaring up at him.

"How'd you know I was here, human?" Shippo asked.

"My name is _Sachi._ And that's not important. Come down." Sachi folded her arms and commanded him imperiously.

Shippo lay back down. "Nah," he smirked. "I've got better stuff to do."

"No you don't! You're just watching the sky!"

"It's better than playing with you."

"No it's not! Come down!"

Shippo looked over the edge again. "If you tell me how you knew I was here, I'll come down."

"I'm a demon."

Shippo leaned back again. "Liar." The girl was shivering in her thin kimono. If she was a real demon like Shippo, this mild cold shouldn't have bothered her.

"I really am a demon!" Sachi protested. When Shippo didn't answer, she said. "...My friend told me you were here. He's a demon too."

Shippo rolled his eyes. "If you won't tell the truth, I won't come down."

"He also says you've got a dirt on your chin and you're sniffing your fingers right now."

Shippo made a gurgling noise and yanked his hand away from of his nose. " _How-!"_ He jumped down from the roof. "How did you know that!"

Sachi smirked. "I have _lots_ of demon friends, and they tell me _everything."_

Shippo gave her a confused look. "But how did you know what I was doing just now?"

"I just told you, stupid!"

"But there aren't any demon here now!"

Sachi rolled her eyes in frustration. "Well obviously you can't sense them, Benkikou hides them. That's what he _does."_

A rush of wind swept past him, and Shippo shuddered. Like a switch turning on, he could suddenly sense them. Three, four- no, five different demonic auras surrounded the two of them. They felt...muffled, as if they were far away, but Shippo could clearly sense that they were close. His heart pounded violently in his chest. _Five demons. I can't fight five demons!_

And then they were gone. Shippo let out the gasp that built up under that demonic pressure. Sachi watched him calmly, smirking.

"They won't hurt you," she said. "They're my friends, and I won't let them." She turned around and began walking in the direction of the forest, turning around every few steps to make sure Shippo was following. He hopped down from the roof and scampered after her.

"Wait, Sachi!" Shippo ran in front of her. "You should be dead, you're just a puny human! Those demons should have eaten you!"

Sachi scowled and shoved his shoulders. Shippo fell to the ground with an 'oof.' "I am a demon," she snapped. "Could a human do this?"

She held out a hand in Shippo's face. A colorless glow built up in her palm. Shippo gasped. He could feel her energy in his youki, something enriching. Food-energy? But instead of absorbing it, the energy slid over his youki like oil.

The air around him shivered again, though no demons revealed themselves this time.

Sachi closed her hand with a flourish. "That's enough for you," she said with a smug smile. "Next time I won't give it away for free. Do you love me now?"

"Um, no? Why would I? Cuz you can make your hand glow? Because I can do that too."

Sachi gaped wordlessly and moved to kick him. Shippo jumped out of the way.

"Foxfire!" Shippo shot out a glowing whip of the flame from his hands to arc over the girl's head. "See? You're not that special."

Sachi lunged at him, but Shippo dodged out of the way, cackling. They continued to chase each other. The hours flew by, until the sky became orange and the cold air became biting.

Shippo and Sachi lay on a hill near the rice paddies, gasping for breath. Sachi threw a half-hearted punch at Shippo, giggling. He made a weak dodge. Then they lay still, watching the darkening sky.

"I knew you'd be my friend if that priestess was gone," she murmured.

* * *

TUESDAY

"Alright, you need to come for at least an hour of training at least three days a week," Kimiko said. She brought Inuyasha through the wide metal doors into a large room full of padded mats and demons in sweatpants. "Though you're welcome to come more, if you need the money."

She pointed to a pair of demons sparring closest to them. They weren't fighting each other so much as grappling, until one slowly pushed the other to the floor with his hands behind his back. She gave Inuyasha a dry stare. "Look at them. See how no one is throwing punches?"

"Well how did you expect me to stop that guy?" Inuyasha asked. His first night of work had been…educational.

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "I thought it would be obvious that you're not supposed to _knock our patrons unconscious_!" She let out a scoff of disgust. "That's what I get for assuming. You're lucky he was a demon, or he could have sued."

Inuyasha wasn't sure what "sued" meant, but it didn't change the fact that luck had nothing to do with it. "I wouldn't have done it if he was a human. I just didn't expect a demon to be as weak as one!"

Kimiko sighed. "Whatever, Milkbone. But that's why you're here: to learn how to stop drunk or rampaging demons—or humans, I guess—without hurting them. Because if someone sues, it'll be my ass, your ass, and Night Crimson's ass on the line."

Inuyasha looked glumly at the slow, quiet training room. The boar demon had lied, there was no fighting here. He wanted to go home.

To Inuyasha's surprise, the training lesson wasn't as boring as he'd expected. Kimiko showed him how to use an opponent's energy against them, to incapacitate them without causing any damage. It was a weird change from his usual swordless fighting style, which was the Punch and Slash It Until It Stops Moving school of combat.

"Here, Ageha will be a drunk human patron," Kimiko demonstrated. Ageha, another security guard with purple hair and smoky, kohl covered eyes, winked at him. At Kimiko's command Ageha attacked her, swinging wildly. Kimiko continued to explain. "Obviously, this isn't going to be difficult when the patron is a human." She grabbed hold of one of Ageha's arms and twisted it around her back. She didn't seem to put much effort into it.

"But if the patron is a demon…" This time, Ageha lunged with supernatural speed, slashing with claws. Kimiko was forced back. She managed to grab a flailing arm, pulling the other guard around and leveraging her to the ground under her knee. "…You've got—oof, stop struggling, Ageha, he gets the point!—you've got to fight a little smarter."

Kimiko showed him her technique, first having him attack her so he could feel what she did, and then letting him practice on her. They practiced until a PA system announced that the club would be opening in 15 minutes.

"Alright, maybe you should come every day, until you know all the tricks," Kimiko suggested, panting a bit. "But you're gonna follow me around until your training's over anyway. So." She shrugged.

"Also, uh, you can leave that in here." Kimiko pointed at Tetsusaiga, stuck through Inuyasha's belt loop.

Inuyasha scowled. "No. I need it."

"You like having a job, Milkbone? Cuz this is nonnegotiable. Besides," Kimono put her hands behind her head and casually looked away. "If you need to depend on a weapon to win, you're obviously not strong enough to work here."

* * *

In the end, they compromised. Tetsusaiga was hidden underneath the bar, where Inuyasha could reach it with little delay in an emergency.

The human barkeep immediately unsheathed it before Inuyasha could stop him.

"Cool!" he said, looking down at the rusty old blade. "But what do you need it here for?"

"You'll see," Kimiko smiled coyly. As he stashed it and she and Inuyasha walked away, she grabbed a lock of his hair and yanked down to bring his ear closer to her mouth. "He'd better never see," she hissed. "I don't want that sword unsheathed on NC property."

"It might be better than the alternative," Inuyasha muttered. She gave him a curious look and he shook his head. He didn't want to explain his whole "my demon blood makes me crazy when I feel cornered" thing to her. It didn't seem like any demons in this era would be strong enough to trigger it, anyway.

At 9:00 PM on a Tuesday evening, the club was less crowded than it had been when Inuyasha arrived the night before. The music was quiet, the dance floor empty, and only a few lonely drinkers sat at the bar.

"It'll be pretty tame for a few hours," Kimiko said, leaning against a wall where she could see the whole club. "They're going to turn the music up at 9:30, and the crowds really start coming in at 10:00, but we've got it pretty easy until then. Mostly it's the guys at the door keeping all the kids out who actually have work to do right now, but you won't have to be on line duty till we've got you trained up in here. So we've just gotta- HEY, YURI!"

Inuyasha turned to look at who Kimiko was shouting at. The demon woman in the skimpy clothing who'd called him a tourist the night before was sitting at the bar, the same human girl-still in uniform- in the seat next to her. She had a sour expression on her face as Kimiko and Inuyasha walked up.

"We've talked about this, Yuri," Kimiko sighed. "No alcohol for minors."

"She isn't even drinking it," the demon woman, Yuri, hissed up at her. The human girl had a short glass of dark yellow liquid in front of her, but she was curling up and trying to become inconspicuous as the demons argued. "Besides, we have an arrangement."

"No, the arrangement is that Madame's girls are allowed in, not that they can drink whatever you wanna give them." Kimiko grabbed the glass and chugged it down, and then slammed the empty glass on the bar. She turned to point a finger at Inuyasha. "Don't do what I just did. Drinking on the clock. Very illegal."

"Hey!" Yuri exclaimed. "I paid for that!"

"Yeah, and it was delicious. Hope you don't expect me to have sex with you."

Yuri jumped off her bar stool and grabbed Kimiko by the collar. "You better be planning to pay me back, then," she snarled.

Kimiko calmly grabbed Yuri's wrists and squeezed, forcing them to release her shirt. "How about, you stop trying to break the law, and I won't tell the Madame you were trying to intoxicate one of her girls," Kimiko murmured icily, just audible over the music. "This is your last warning, Yuri. I don't want to see you breaking the rules in my club again." She shoved her back towards the bar stool and smiled sweetly.

Yuri glared back at her, hatred in her eyes. The human girl looked fearfully between Yuri and Kimiko.

"Come on, Sakura," Yuri growled, grabbing her purse from the bar and stomping off. The human girl, Sakura, followed. They exited the club.

"What a mess," Kimiko sighed dramatically, walking down the bar. "So, yeah, that's something you have to watch out for. Most of the time we keep the kids out of the club altogether, but there are special cases where they're allowed in. If they're in special-status groups, or they're with demons, or they're one of Madame's girls, to name a few."

"Wait, is this Madame the same foreigner who's in charge of the Hidden Bureau?" Inuyasha asked. "What does she have to do with human school girls?"

Kimiko looked at him, surprised. "You really don't know?"

"No, I just asked to make conversation. Yes, I really don't know!"

"Alright buddy, cool it with the sass. Hmm, how do I put this..." Kimiko stopped to put her arm over his shoulder.. "The Madame employs those girls to provide a very specific service. You see _male_ creatures, both human and demon, have some biological urges that they can only fulfill with a _female_ -"

Inuyasha shoved her away with a squawk, face cherry red. He stomped away as behind him Kimiko shrieked with laughter. She ran forward and tugged on his sleeve.

"Jeez, lighten up, Milkbone! Wow, what a reaction!" She chuckled some more. "Don't worry kiddo, you'll be able to say the word 'sex' one day."

"It- It's not that!" Inuyasha snapped, though the color of his cheeks implied otherwise. "Those girls look like they're Ka- like they're my age." He shook his head angrily. "And here she thinks this world is so civilized. Some things never change."

Kimiko's expression heavied. "No, you're right. They are young, and that is wrong." She leaned back against the bar and looked down, fiddling with her nails. "I don't know where the Madame finds them, but her girls are always human, and always young. Some demons...prefer it that way." She shook her head. "But for the most part, they're treated well. Anyone who mistreats one of her girls has to face the Madame's wrath."

Inuyasha remembered the girl in the food court bathroom, and the man who made her bleed. He hoped the Madame had been as quick with him as she'd been with Inuyasha. He realized Kimiko was still talking.

"It's not like they disappear when they get older," she muttered. "I mean I saw one woman a few months ago who'd been a...one of the girls, you know. But they don't work for her anymore."

"Wait, isn't the Madame an enforcer or something?" Inuyasha asked. She hadn't ever said it out loud but the way the Madame had commanded her goons, and her single-minded focus on getting Inuyasha registered, made her seem like a woman serious about her job. A powerful woman.

Kimiko stared at him. "Uh, is the Pope Catholic?"

"Is the who what?"

"Forget it. Yeah, she's 'an enforcer or something.' The Madame's the head of the Hidden Registry. Hell, she's pretty much the head of the whole Hidden Bureau. That means she keeps track of registering demons, and making sure they follow the rules, for _all of Japan_. So yeah, that's putting it lightly."

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows. "Then why the hell does the most powerful demon in Japan run a, a traveling brothel? Spare cash?"

Kimiko gazed at him, expressionless, before her lips quirked up in a sweet smile. "Hm. That's a good question."

Before Inuyasha could say anything else, Kimiko turned around to look at the bartender. "And you. What the hell man, you've seen Sakura and Yuri here before, you know she's underage!"

He shrugged a protest. "I didn't know she'd give it to the kid!"

Kimiko reached across the bar to whack the man upside the head. "Yuri hates whiskey. It's your job to know these things!"

She turned back to Inuyasha. "Speaking of jobs and knowing things, I realize there's actually plenty of stuff we can do now. Let's go."

* * *

By 11:00, the club was as full as it had been the night before, which, according to Kimiko, was not very.

"You think this is busy? Ha!" she'd said. "Wait till your first Friday night."

Inuyasha followed Kimiko, watching as she worked the room. She somehow managed to reduce tensions wherever it looked like fights were heating up. When it actually came to blows, she would swiftly get between the brawlers, removing one or both of them from the club. Sometimes she would actually take their hits, shielding the other patron.

"They're humans," she explained after it happened. "Weak little tissue punches. If it comes between a customer getting hurt and you getting punched, you take the punch."

They walked the room, keeping an eye out for any trouble or minors. Inuyasha's internal clock still hadn't caught on that his sleep schedule was upside down now, and he was getting tired. The pounding music and fake smoke smell were making his head hurt. He was so distracted, he barely noticed when he heard a woman shouting.

The two of them were the closest bouncers in the club. Kimiko signalled him. They approached a table, where a group of men were sitting, smirking. Two women were standing next to it. One of the women was shouting at the men, enraged.

"-you assholes, I'll call the police! You wanna fucking go to jail?" she screamed.

"Is there a problem here?" Kimiko interrupted, moving to stand between the women and the table.

"Yes there's a problem!" the woman said. "This dickhead just grabbed my friend's ass, like practically stuck his finger up her- you need to kick them out!"

"Ma'am, please just leave them alone, they're trying to provoke you."

"No, you need to kick them out! It's unsafe with people like them here!"

"Ma'am-"

"Hey baby, bend over and I'll show you unsafe," one of the men called out around Kimiko. Another one thrust his hips forward, making obscene noises with the motions. Inuyasha could smell fear from both the women, sharp sweat and adrenaline under their flowery perfume. The quiet one, the one who'd been groped, grabbed her friends and whispered something in her ear.

"No, these guys need to pay for what they did," the loud one snapped back, glaring at the men.

"Ma'am, we'd like to keep everyone happy." Kimiko took two cards out of her pocket and gave them to the loud girl. "Show this to a bartender, and they'll refund your entry costs and give you free drinks for the rest of the night."

The woman looked insulted. She began to protest until her quiet friend grabbed her arm and said, "Please, I just want to go. Please!"

With one last furious gaze at the men at the table, the loud one finally consented. They headed off toward the bar.

Kimiko whirled around to look at the men at the table, fire in her eyes. There were five of them, most still smirking. The only one who wasn't seemed to be the youngest of the group. He looked like he was about Inuyasha or Kagome's age.

"Your conduct is unacceptable," Kimiko snapped at the apparent leader, a man with a tattoo of the calligraphic kanji for 'lotus' on his collarbone. "You better make damn sure that never happens again, or your boss will hear about this, and the Mamushi group will be disinvited from Night Crimson."

In an aside to Inuyasha, so quiet even his ears could barely hear her, Kimiko murmured, "the Mamushi are one of those special-status groups I mentioned. A yakuza group. Their boss is human but his second in command is an Amikiri, so they come here a lot."

"Oh no, are you gonna tell on me?" The yakuza man mocked. "Sure, tell my boss that I grabbed some bitch's ass and she went crazy, you think he's gonna care?"

Kimiko narrowed her eyes. He'd called her bluff. She turned to the youngest member of the group, the kid, and the only one uncomfortable with the conflict instead of reveling in it.

"ID?" she demanded.

He took a card out of his pocket and handed it to her. Inuyasha could almost hear the boy's heart rate spike over the dance music. Kimiko examined the card. She made tight, close-lipped smile and pocketed it.

"Fakes are illegal, so I think I'll keep this. I'll have to ask you to leave the club now, Mr…"she took the fake ID out to glance at the name. "Akira Toriyama."

"Oh hell no!" Lotus-tattoo jumped out of his seat. "He's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, are you just gonna take that, Natchii?" another man said.

Kimiko put her hand on the kid's shoulder. Lotus-tattoo shoved her away. Kimiko tried to walk forward and he pushed her back again.

Kimiko motioned toward the boy with her eyes. "Take care of him!" she hissed to Inuyasha. Inuyasha understood how bullies worked. No matter what, they had to get the kid out of the club, or lose face. Inuyasha's fist tightened.

"Alright, come on," he said gruffly, grabbing the kid's arm. The boy smacked his hand away and stood up. The three other men at the table were cheering him on. "Yeah, Natchii, don't take that!"

The boy, Natchii, looked between Inuyasha and his companions. Inuyasha could almost hear a click as he made his decision. He raised his fists, adrenaline-sweat smell lacing the air. It was fight-or-flight, yeah, but Inuyasha wasn't sure he was the one making Natchii feel cornered.

"Make me," Natchii said.

Inuyasha reached forward to grab the boy again. Natchii swung a fist, and Inuyasha jumped back. Crap, Kimiko was still dealing with Lotus-tattoo. Gotta get him outside. How did that technique he'd just learned go, again? But no, that would just bring Natchii to the floor, and draw this whole mess out even more. Couldn't hurt him. Didn't really feel like getting punched. So how?

Natchii threw another punch. Inuyasha dodged around the him. He grabbed the back of the boy's collar with one hand, and his belt with the other. With a hrk! He lifted the kid up over his head.

"Hey, what the hell!" Natchii flailed his arms and legs, but Inuyasha didn't let him down.

Everyone in the club stared as Inuyasha pushed through the crowd, holding the struggling teenager above his head. The roar of the club seemed to die down a little as conversation stopped. The dancers stared. The bartenders stared. When Inuyasha finally made it outside, the gate guard and everyone waiting in line stared too.

Inuyasha dropped Natchii in a heap on the sidewalk in front of the club. The boy gaped at him, wordless.

"No underage drinking allowed," Inuyasha called out to the crowded line. Clapping his hands clean, he turned and went back in to work.

* * *

On Tuesday, when Kagome went to tutoring, Natsuo showed up in jeans and a T-shirt.

"How did you not get sent home for that?" she asked in shock.

Natsuo shrugged and grinned impishly. "By not showing up."

Kagome stared, aghast. "You can't just skip school! You-" well, she really wasn't one to talk. "...not without a good reason, anyway."

The day after that, he didn't come at all. Kagome sat in the empty classroom, jiggling her leg and staring at the door. She could be home right now. She hadn't spoken to Inuyasha since Tuesday morning, when he'd come home from his first night at Night Crimson.

After half an hour, Kagome went home. Inuyasha's work hours didn't seem to follow any sort of pattern in the three nights he'd been working, other than ending long after she went to sleep. He'd gone before she returned from school for the past two days, but maybe today she could see him before he left.

On Thursday, Natsuo was sitting obediently at a desk when Kagome walked into room 9-C, ripping a tiny scrap of paper into tinier scraps. He was even wearing his uniform. He looked up and beamed when Kagome opened the door. "Kagome!"

"Why weren't you here yesterday?"

Natsuo's smile dimmed and he looked away. "Sorry, I didn't come to school yesterday. There was...I was busy. I'm really sorry, it won't happen again."

He looked so forlorn that Kagome's irritation disappeared. Almost. "It's okay. As long as it really doesn't happen again. And really, Natsuo, you're a student! You should be skipping other things to go to school!" _Oh hypocrite, thy name is Kagome…_

Natsuo's smile returned brightly. "Eheheh, sorry!" He seemed to like the scolding.

His grin was contagious, and Kagome smiled back. "What were you doing then, that you were so busy?"

The grin disappeared again. "I'd rather not talk about it." He was closed off, angry. Kagome wanted to push for answers, but something told her now was not a good time.

"Oh, ah. Alright. Then I guess we'd better get started, if we're going to catch up on everything," she said, unpacking her notebook. His face lit up again. She was going to get afterimages from how quickly his face switched expressions.

"Right, yeah!" Natsuo said. "This brain's ready for some learning, Kagome-sensei!" He gave a mock salute. Kagome didn't remember giving him permission to use her first name, but at this point it would be too awkward to correct him. Whatever, it wasn't that important.

Natsuo seemed especially distracted that day, frequently asking Kagome to repeat herself. After she explained a math problem and wrote out the steps, Kagome looked up to see Natsuo smiling at her, not the paper.

"So did you get that?" she asked.

Natso blinked and looked down at the paper where Kagome's finger rested. His eyes sped through the problem. "Sorry, could you go through it one more time? With this example?"

She did, and he nodded. They did another problem and Natsuo finished his faster than Kagome. But he was even more distracted when they covered history and literature. He was constantly moving and chattering, standing up to walk around his desk or swinging his legs or tapping his pencil on his chair. Kagome liked Natsuo, and she didn't mind tutoring him. But it was getting dark, and she was anxious to get home before Inuyasha left for work. It took three hours to cover everything, and by the time they were done stars were shining in the sky.

Kagome slammed her notebook shut victoriously. "Alright, that's it." Both of them got up and stretched.

"You live close by?" Natsuo asked with a glance out the window. "Want me to walk you home?"

She shrugged. "Close enough. I'm fine, but thanks for the offer."

He smiled at her. "It's really no trouble, it's not like I'm gonna do any homework."

She mock glared at him. "Hey, aren't I your sensei? You shouldn't tell me that!" He laughed, swinging his arms around in childish distraction. "But actually, I'd rather walk home alone. It's the only quiet time I get all day, between my brother and grandfather and…" actually, with Inuyasha gone the past few days, the house had been _too_ quiet, even with Sota's constant video games and Gramps spontaneously bursting into historical lecture. But she didn't want Natsuo to walk her home, just in case Inuyasha was there.

"Oh, okay," Natsuo said, put out. "Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded, feeling guilty. She felt like she'd just told a child he couldn't have a cookie for dinner.

As she exited the school building, Kagome stared up sadly at the sky. She could see two stars, if she stared hard enough. Back in time, the sky would have dripped with lights, the silvery river of heaven. This black sky was just a dry canyon.

"Hey gorgeous, you got a minute?"

Kagome startled, looking back down to earth at the men a few feet ahead of her loitering outside the school's gates. There were four of them, two dressed in unfamiliar high school uniforms and two in casual clothing.

"No, sorry. Excuse me," she said, trying to walk past them. They moved to block her path, boxing her in against a building wall. They loomed over her, smirking, their faces obscured in the dim yellow light of street lamps.

"Hey, no need to be so unfriendly," drawled the one who'd spoken first, one of the two not-high-schoolers. "We just want to know if you saw our friend in there. Natsuo Morikawa."

She saw two of them glance at each other at their leader's words, smirking. She'd seen that expression in the eyes of men and demons in the past. These people were not Natsuo's friends. "No I didn't. Sorry."

One boy approached her, grabbing her arm. She flinched away instinctively and he let out a caw of laughter. "Really, are you sure? 'Cuz you seemed pretty chummy inside." He jerked his head at the school building, where room 9-C's wide windows and warm light clearly revealed the room's interior.

"Aw look, she's scared!" laughed another. He made to snatch her hair- a feint- and she flinched again. More laughter all around.

Kagome's hands and feet felt numb. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and her forehead and nape felt wet with cold sweat. God, she wished Inuyasha was here. She wished she had a bow and arrow. She'd faced demons the size of buildings before, what were four boys compared to ogres and dragons? But she knew what humans could do. And back then she'd had Inuyasha, and Sango and Miroku and Shippo and Kilala at her back, and now she was all alone.

Suddenly the guy in front of her lurched to the side as a rock the size of a baseball slammed into his shoulder. He roared out in pain.

"I'm right here motherfuckers!" Natsuo shouted. "Come and get me!" He stood about twenty feet away, two more rocks in his hand. He threw them, missing both, and then turned and ran. With cries of outrage the four guys surrounding Kagome chased after him.

She stared at their retreating forms, not moving, listening to their shouts become fainter until she couldn't hear them. Her legs wobbled and then gave out and she collapsed to the sidewalk, trembling.

_Get up. Go home._

With effort, she managed to pick herself off the ground. Her hands were shaking so much she could hardly hold her bag. _Got to get home._ She took two slow steps, and then she ran all the way to Higurashi shrine.

* * *

When she got home, Kagome opened the door to her house and looked inside. Sitting on the couch eating a cup of instant ramen was Inuyasha. Sitting there in his red kimono, bare feet on the coffee table, he was the most welcome sight Kagome had ever seen. He looked up when she came in. "Welcome home."

"Oh you...the kettle…" Kagome murmured. Her school bag slid off her shoulder onto the lowered floor of the entrance area. She didn't move to pick it up or take off her shoes and come inside.

Inuyasha put his noodles on the table and came to her, covering the distance in two concerned steps. "What's wrong?"

Kagome didn't answer, just grabbed his hakama with both hands and buried her face in his chest. She started weeping. She thought after she'd made it all the way home with dry eyes that she was safe from tears at least. But Inuyasha's warm, safe presence melted the ice that held her up. As soon as her heart realized it didn't have to be so strong, it collapsed. She made quiet, heavy sobs into his fire-rat fur, and tried to tamp them back down inside her.

Inuyasha tensed for a moment, frantically glancing around the room for some sort of solution. He was always lost when Kagome cried. After a moment he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back and resting his chin on the top of her head.

Eventually, Kagome stopped crying. "Okay," she murmured with a sniffle, gently pulling out of Inuyasha's embrace. She picked up her school bag, kicked her shoes off and stepped up into the living room. Inuyasha followed her to sit on the couch.

"What happened?" he asked.

Kagome shook her head. "Some guys...nothing happened. It just scared me. I'm fine." A thought occurred to her. "Why are you here, by the way? Shouldn't you be at work?"

Inuyasha scowled. "Work is stupid," he said. "Also I'm not working tonight. Something about 13 hour shifts and labor laws."

"Oh. I just… um. Do you think... you can maybe walk me home, from now on? From tutoring?"

Inuyasha glanced at her face, surprised. "Of course! I've been asking-" his expression suddenly soured and he stopped mid sentence, turning away.

"What?" Kagome asked.

"I thought my job was so important to you," he muttered. "I thought you- you didn't want to be seen with me."

"What? No, of course not!" she said. But then, hadn't she? She forbade him from coming to her school, she hadn't let Natsuo walk her home, all so nobody would see him. Why?

"It's not that I don't want to be seen with you," she said slowly, answering her own question as she spoke. "I guess I just… wanted to keep the two worlds separate. Our two worlds. Besides, you don't know my time. Everything you know is so different from the modern era, you know? Everything you do is…"

"Is wrong? So I do embarrass you." Inuyasha's face was still turned away. His voice was unusually calm.

"No!" Kagome quickly cried out. But if that wasn't the reason, why didn't she let anyone see them together in public? So what if he was loud and uncouth and broke things? He did that in the Feudal Era too, and she never had a problem with it then.

I guess I've always thought of the Feudal Era as a...a dream, I guess," Kagome explained haltingly. She knew it was true only as she spoke it. "Just a dream. I would go through the well with my bandaids and instant ramen and school uniform, and it never felt quite...real. Not real life. Like I was a visitor to another world." Maybe that was why, even when she was in the arms of demons, she'd always been sure she'd be okay.

"But when you come here, suddenly I'm in the real world again, and suddenly the stupid things matter. Grades. Money. What people think of me. Not the important stuff like- like your little brother being undead and controlled by a demon made of pure evil, or-" Tears welled up in Kagome's eyes. She tried to blink them back but they spilled out anyway. "-Or having a hell hole in your hand that'll swallow you up if you don't kill the thing that gave it to you."

Kagome clasped Inuyasha's hand. She held tight, for the scare she'd just gone through and disgust with herself for treating Inuyasha like a burden, instead of a friend. Just because he didn't fit into her tidy little world. Her era was probably like a dream to him too.

He returned her grip, holding her hand secure. Safe.

"So… I guess you're right. I got caught up in the stupidities, and didn't want my friends to meet you because I was scared of what they would think. As if that matters!"

Inuyasha's hand tightened, but he still wouldn't look at her. He was probably angry, but he didn't let go of her hand, and Kagome was grateful. Her breath hitched as she spoke again.

"I'm so sorry, Inuyasha," she whispered. "I hurt you."

Finally, finally, Inuyasha turned his head back to face her. He didn't look angry, though his expression was very serious. He leaned into her, and Kagome took the pressure of his arm against hers as 'apology accepted.'

"You're strong, Kagome," he said.

"What?"

"I mean you're a weak human, but you're also strong. Really strong."

"What are you talking about? Where did that come from?" Kagome laughed through her tears.

"I don't know," Inuyasha muttered, shaking his head. They sat in silence, pressed together, fingers intertwined.

"Do you want to come to school with me tomorrow? Meet my friends?" Kagome asked quietly. "And will- will you still walk me home tomorrow night?"

"Keh. I would have done that anyway, stupid. And you don't have to take me to school just to prove it to yourself. _I_ believe you."

Kagome nodded and let out a short laugh, but her eyes were welling up again. They returned to silence.

Some time later, after Kagome's tears had dried and the two of them were just sitting and staring at the dark television, holding hands, Inuyasha spoke.

"Hey, Kagome?" he asked in a husky voice.

"Mmm?"

"Do you think—when do you think the well is going to reopen?"

His hands were clenched tight. _Oh._

Kagome let out a long breath. "I don't know. But I'm sure it won't be long. Sango and Miroku and Kaede are probably working as hard as they can on their end. And we'll go look at the demon records, and I'll have Gramps look into the lore on the well, and, and- we'll be okay. We'll figure this out, Inuyasha, and we'll go back. We will."

* * *

On Friday Inuyasha went to the club early, right after taking Kagome to school. Kimiko had told him on Wednesday to come during daylight office hours for some complications in payroll, which he didn't really understand but had the word "pay" in it, so she had his attention.

Since Kimiko had said he could come any time before 9:00 PM he took his time traveling. Even with Tokyo's smoggy air, he was happier jumping over rooftops than traveling by subway. Inuyasha took a leap from a skyscraper onto a smaller building. The roofs here were higher than he'd ever been, higher than Kilala could fly. The sight of the distant earth sent a happy snake of terror through his belly. _Gotta depend on_ gravity _for a fight. God this world is boring._

The trip took forty minutes longer than it did by train, and Inuyasha had to grudgingly admit that Mrs. Higurashi was right. The subways were fast, no matter how unpleasant.

The club during the day was as different from its usual smoky standard as earth was from sky. The glowing neon sign lay dormant. The doors to the club were closed and locked. Suited humans and glamoured demons walked through the building's innocuous side door looking harried and official. He went in. With his black security uniform and baseball cap over his ears, no one spared Inuyasha a glance.

Kimiko was standing behind the secretary desk of the building's small lobby, engaged in a low-voiced conversation with the security guard and the secretary. Inuyasha walked up to it.

"Do you ever go home?" he asked her. "Or do you just haunt this place full time like some sort of jibakurei?"

Kimiko looked up and stuck her tongue out, prompting a laugh from the secretary. "They expect more out of me than a part time bouncer, kiddo."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Kimiko finished her talk with the two employees and came out, motioning to Inuyasha. "This way, Milkbone." She led him up some stairs and into the swarming hive of the Hidden Bureau's headquarters.

"So what's the problem?" Inuyasha asked. "And when are you paying me?"

"Relax, your pay is coming next pay day," Kimiko reassured him. "Which is every second Tuesday. So eleven days."

"Eleven days!?" Inuyasha protested. He wanted to be long gone from this era by that time.

"Yeah, and don't bother asking for an advance, because they don't give them."

They stopped at the third floor and entered a hallway with more bland wooden doors. Kimiko knocked at a door, and he vaguely recognized the names on the nameplates from when she'd gotten him set up at payroll four days ago.

"They just need some more information for tax purposes or something," Kimiko explained. She waved at one of the several people behind desks in the room. "Hey Shinichi, here's your mystery boy."

The dumpy, smiling man looked up from his computer. "Oh excellent, excellent. Come, come!" He motioned Inuyasha around to look at some papers on his desk.

"I got your records from Kentaro, who manages payroll for Night Crimson," he explained cheerfully. He flashed a smile at Kentaro who had looked up at the sound of his name. "And I noticed you didn't include your Resident Number…?"*

"Don't got one, whatever that is," Inuyasha said.

The man, Shinichi, nodded amicably and made a note on the paper. "So you're not a citizen?" Inuyasha shrugged.

"Well that's fine," Shinichi said, waving the issue away. "We can set up an account for you at a demon-managed bank, if you haven't got one, we just need your signature or seal to give us permission." He gave Inuyasha some forms to sign. As he did, Shinichi explained, "we pay you by direct deposit. We'll give you your account information tomorrow, and you'll be able to withdraw after payday."

Inuyasha nodded as if he understood everything Shinichi was saying. "I noticed you didn't include a surname in your forms," Shinichi continued. "It's not strictly necessary, but having one would help reduce attention from human workers at this bank, which is always something we strive for. Is there name you'd like for your account?"

"Surname? Like a family name?" Inuyasha asked. A strange feeling bubbled up in his stomach at the question. He'd never really had a family, after his mother died. And they had disowned Izayoi, so they probably wouldn't have wanted her half-breed bastard son with their name. Not that he would have granted them that honor, even if he remembered it.

A title then? Some of Kaede's villagers had referred to him as Inuyasha of the Forest, he'd heard. It didn't feel natural to him.

"I guess...Higurashi, then," Inuyasha said slowly. "With the characters for "sunset."

Shinichi made some final marks on his forms and collected them, smiling in a satisfied manner. "Excellent! Kimiko will give you your bank information tomorrow, Mr. Higurashi."

Inuyasha felt himself blushing. Mr. Higurashi…. _Stop that!_ He got up to leave.

"Oh. There's one more thing," Shinichi said. He pressed a button on his computer and spoke. "I'm finished with the boy, Madame. He's in payroll room 2."

A familiar voice responded, cool and accented. "Excellent. I'll be right there."

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. "Crap," he muttered. Kimiko snickered.

The door to the hallway flew open and the Madame strode in. The sharp clack of her high heels sounded out over the noises of her following retinue, three ever-present goons and- oh. Behind the goons stood the girl Inuyasha had rescued at the food-court, eyes demurely lowered. She glanced up at Inuyasha to see him looking at her and looked away, smiling slightly.

"You," the Madame began.

"You," he growled back.

"I have some unfinished business with you."

Inuyasha laid his hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt. "Oh really?"

The Madame ignored his gesture. She gestured the girl forward. "This is Yazura." Yazura stood straight, hands primly clasped together, eyes down.

Inuyasha eyed the Madame, and then Yazura, and then back the Madame again. "Uh," he said. "We've met."

Madame clapped Yazura on the shoulder and gestured to Inuyasha, raising her eyebrows. _Well?_

Yazura nodded and walked forward. She touched Inuyasha lightly on the hand and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Mr. Inuyasha, I never got to thank you properly for saving me last Saturday. It was very heroic of you." Behind him, Inuyasha heard Kimiko make a high pitched wheeze.

Inuyasha shrugged and stepped backwards a bit. "Not really. I knew that dough bag couldn't actually hurt me."

"But you stepped in anyway," the Madame cut in. "For no reward, at possible inconvenience to yourself. Why?"

Inuyasha stared at her. "Because he was a big man beating up a small girl. Obviously I was gonna do something about it! Keh."

The Madame smiled slowly, and for the first time that Inuyasha had seen it looked genuine. "Hero," she murmured.

Yazura stepped close to him and looked up, finally. She delicately placed her fingers on his upper arm. "Well, _hero,_ if you ever have some free time and want to do...an activity, you know how to reach me."

"No I don't," Inuyasha said, stepping back again. Kimiko made another squeak and Inuyasha whirled around to look at her. She had turned her back to him and seemed to be trying to stuff her hand in her mouth.

Madame pulled Yazura back by her collar, rolling her eyes. "So ask Kimiko." She peered at Inuyasha intently. "Regardless, you did me a favor with no expectation of a reward. And you should know that I don't forget favors."

She turned around and walked back towards the doors. Her goons followed obediently and, with one backwards glance through her lashes, so did Yazura. Inuyasha didn't realize he'd been keyed up for a fight, but he relaxed when he realized the Madame seemed to have finished her business with him.

"Oh, wait!" he said. The Madame stopped and looked back at him.

"Kimiko mentioned that the Bureau keeps demonic historical records," Inuyasha said. "How do I get to them?"

The Madame narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "What records are you looking for?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Anything on traveling to the past. Where I'm _from."_

The Madame barked a laugh. "Still keeping it up? Sure. We have a record room. It's kept by a demon named Furuime, and it's open to the public from midnight to 8:00 AM."

Inuyasha nodded. He'd taken down ogres the size of buildings. He could handle a room full of books.

"He'll try to get you to leave," the Madame warned as she turned back to the door. "If he refuses to help you, threaten to report him to me, and he might be more help—well, less unhelpful."

She finally left the room, her entourage not far behind her. As soon as the door closed Kimiko collapsed to the floor, shrieking with laughter.

"W- What's so funny?" Inuyasha snapped. Kimiko just whooped some more. It was contagious, and the other employees in the room started chuckling too. Inuyasha scowled.

"Ah, oh man," Kimiko breathed, still laughing a bit. "Oh god. Oh Milkbone, you are too cute." Inuyasha punched her in the shoulder. She winced, still snickering.

* * *

"Incredible," Miroku murmured, to Sango as she approached. She sat down next to him in the shade at the edge of the rice paddies. Though she was dressed in her civilian outfit, the slayer carried a covered basket, tied up with wire, from which youki emanated.

"What is?" she whispered back. Miroku pointed.

Sachi and Shippo splashed in the mud nearby, energetic even under the hot sun. Watching them from the other side, submerged as much as it could be in the paddies, was a kappa. It stared at the children balefully.

"Aren't they supposed to be shy around humans?" Miroku asked, eyeing the green demon. "When they're not drowning and eating us, of course."

"It's happened three times since I've started watching her," Sango whispered. "Demons I've never seen in the forest- so either they normally hide themselves well or they've traveled far to get here- have come up to her and just...watched." She grinned at Miroku, eyes glittering.

He raised an eyebrow. "And why does this excite you much, Miss Exterminator?"

"Because, Monk," Sango murmured. "I've noticed some things that all these strange demons have in common." She paused, upping the suspense. He motioned for her to go on.

"Number one: none of them have approached the girl while she was inside the village. The fields are the closest they've come.

"Number two," here she leaned even closer to Miroku and whispered conspiratorially. " _They've all been humanoid._ All intelligent enough for some sort of rudimentary communication with people. But we know that whatever thrall this girl holds over the demons affects more than just the human-like ones."

Miroku, reminded, craned his neck. "Where _is_ Kilala, anyway?" Sango waved the question away.

"I have a theory about what this girl is, and if it's true, she should be in even more danger from demons than everyone else, not less."

"And are you finally going to tell me your theory?" Miroku asked, exasperated. She'd been hinting about her idea, watching the girl for days, but still hadn't said anything concrete.

Sango shook her head. "I have one last experiment I want to do." She picked up the basket, which squeaked angrily.

"I believe it's the natural inclination of demons to want to eat this girl, not protect her," Sango murmured. She barely lifted the covering of the basket and the rat demon inside poked its snout out, sniffing toward Sachi. Sango stuck her hand inside.

" _What are you-"_ Miroku hissed, twitching towards her, but Sango had already withdrawn her hand unharmed. She held a small piece of rope in it, which Miroku saw continued to tie around the rat demon's neck.

"Okay, so maybe two experiments," Sango said. "But I sort of already knew it had no interest in me. You see? It only has eyes for Sachi."

She opened the basket covering fully and the rat leaped out, straining at the leash toward the girl. She got up and began walking toward the children as the rat pulled forward. Miroku rose and followed warily.

Shippo noticed them first. "Hi Sango!" he said, giving Sachi an opening to toss a glob of mud at his face. He yelped but didn't retaliate. Sachi also stopped playing. She stared eerily at Sango for a minute before turning her attention to the demon on the leash.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Don't come too clo-" Sango began, but Sachi was already coming forward to pet it. In an instant the rat demon jumped up and bit her. She screamed and pulled back but it held on tight, chewing on the flesh of her hand.

 _Shit shit shit!_ Sango drew her hidden sword, lunged forward-

Suddenly the rat's entire torso disappeared with a squishy, crunchy sound. Its body was ripped away under invisible jaws. The rat's dead muscles relaxed and the head dropped from Sachi's hand. Miroku leaped forward and picked up the crying girl.

"Get her to Kaede's and wash the wound, _fast!"_ Sango ordered. "The dirt in the rat's jaws are as good as poison. Quickly!" Miroku nodded and ran off. With an anxious backward glance, Shippo followed.

Sango bent to pick up the demon's severed head, not wanting it to poison the field or attract any scavengers. A chill wind blew by her and cold sweat beaded on her forehead and neck as she suddenly felt the youki of seven- ten? More? Demons receding in the direction of the village.

 _Do not play with the maiden's safety again,_ a rustling voice whispered in her ear. _Or it will not be just the demon who dies._

"I didn't mean-" Sango began. But the presence was gone.

She shivered and followed it to Kaede's hut.

She could hear the screaming from yards away and ran, bursting into the hut. Miroku was holding down Sachi's legs and Shippo sat on her uninjured arm. Kaede was trying to pour concentrated sake on Sachi's bitten hand.

"No!" Sachi screamed, struggling wildly."They're trying to kill me, Benkikou, help me!"

"Stop struggling, child!" Kaede said. "If ye leave the wound uncleaned ye could lose the whole hand!" Sachi screamed and sobbed wordlessly.

Sango stared, sick with guilt. _Idiot._ She'd only wanted to see how the rat acted around Sachi, hadn't intended to let it close enough to touch, but...but. She'd been too eager to prove herself right, and careless.

Still, Sachi's cries- and Sango's recent encounter- confirmed Shippo's story. Benkikous were rare demons, or at least illusive. They weren't powerful; they could be slain by any human with enough determination. Their power lay in the the ability to completely hide their scent, sound, sight, and youki. And those of other demons too, apparently.

Kaede finally finished cleaning out the wound and went about preparing a poultice and bandages. Miroku held Sachi down so she couldn't make the wound dirty before Kaede had a chance to bandage it up. Sachi continued to sob.

"I'll...uh, I'll go check Kagome's bag for painkillers," Sango said. The bottle Kagome had shown her was there, a few pills still rattling around inside. How many were children supposed to take, again?

"So." Miroku sidled up to Sango as Kaede gave Sachi the pills to swallow. "Are you ready to tell me your theory, or would you like to perform any more "experiments?"

She whirled a glare at him, and then looked away, miserable. He was right, and she was definitely in the wrong.

"I think she's a Senka Maiden," Sango muttered. "A type of human- usually female, though not always- with some sort of attraction over demons. They manifest every few decades in varying degrees of...potency. The record keeper believed it had something to do with youki in the air, but we really don't know what causes them to appear.

"The blood of a Senka Maiden is some sort of power-up for demons, as is her flesh," Sango went on.

"Like the jewel?" Miroku asked.

"Perhaps. But it doesn't affect humans as the jewel does, at least. And," Sango said, looking at the crying girl, "apparently sex with one of them is almost as good as drinking the blood. And less deadly. But I didn't understand how she hadn't been eaten before finding refuge here in the village. Or even afterwards, considering how often she wandered into the forest."

She was quiet for a moment. "But you have a theory," Miroku said.

Sango nodded. "I think the demon she cried out to- Benkikou- somehow protects her. Not by itself, it's far too weak. But it's the linchpin of her demon squad that Shippo mentioned. Somehow it's decided it's better to keep her alive than eat her."

A susurrus behind her startled them both. It sounded like the wind laughing. Sango turned around but there was only the wall.

Sachi finally seemed to be settling down. A tired Kaede came and returned the pill bottle.

"She said she felt no different," the old woman sighed. Behind her, Sachi, exhausted from the screaming and pain, seemed to be dozing off. "T'was not a pain easily dispelled. I can only hope we cleaned it well enough. But I believe the rat struck no muscles that will not heal."

"I hope so," Sango agreed. She moved to put the pill bottle back in the bag. Kagome had said she should take two for her menstrual cramps every six hours, and if Sachi took that much they'd be gone within the week. She wished Kagome could just send more through the-

"Idiot!" Sango cried out, slapping her forehead. "Halfwit, fool!"

"What is it, what is it?"

Sango whirled around to face Miroku. "It's no wonder we haven't found Naraku yet, idiots that we all are!"

"Hey, don't bring me into whatever fight you're having with yourself," Miroku replied defensively.

Sango held up the pill bottle in his face. "The bag came through, we've known that for a week! We can send them messages, Miroku!"

Miroku gaped. "I take it back. I am an idiot." Sango was already pulling a notebook and pencils out of Kagome's bag. They'd solved the mystery of the Curious Feral Child, and she was eager to share the story with Kagome.

Kagome's things could get through. But why was the well still blocked to her and Inuyasha? Sango had no answer, but at least now they could put their minds together, and perhaps were one step closer to the truth.

* * *

OMAKE:

<Grainy black and white security footage shows the inside of a nightclub, with a timestamp of 2:13 AM, Tuesday morning. A small crowd has gathered around two figures who are grappling with each other, a burly man and a slight woman. Despite the difference in physique, they seem evenly matched. The woman claws at the man's face and hisses with inhuman intonation.>

<Two nightclub security guards approach the pair; one a woman with short red hair, and one a young man with long white hair under a baseball cap. They worm themselves between the fighting pair.>

KIMIKO: Okay, that's enough, if you're going to fight take it out-

<The woman dodges around her to lunge at the man. Kimiko grabs her arms. The man takes the opportunity to swing a bottle at the woman's head.>

KIMIKO, to her partner: Subdue him!

<Inuyasha grabs the man's arms, but the man works on fist free. Before he can take a swing, Inuyasha punches him in the jaw, a grin growing on his mouth. The man falls, unconscious. The woman in Kimiko's arms stops moving and stares down at her opponent, blinking in shock. Inuyasha looks at his fist, then the downed man, and sighs in disappointment.>

KIMIKO, sputtering: What- why did- you just knocked him unconscious!

INUYASHA: Yeah, and it was stupid easy. <The crowd murmurs in shock at the security guard's casual brutality.>

<Kimiko smack her forehead and growls in frustration.>

KIMIKO: Just get him into a chair.

<The woman rushes to the downed man as Inuyasha hoists him into a chair. Kimiko comes close to her partner.>

KIMIKO: You can't just knock a patron unconscious!

INUYASHA: You said to subdue him!

<The woman is now tenderly petting the man's face as he groggily comes to.>

INUYASHA: They're...friendly, now?

KIMIKO: Yes, they're married.

INUYASHA: But they were attacking each other.

KIMIKO: Yes. They were flirting.

INUYASHA: They looked like they were gonna kill each other!

KIMIKO: We're just echoing each other, kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love crossover cameos! And there are more to come! Who knows where the concept of the Senka maiden is from? I'd love it if you tell me your thoughts and theories about why the wells is blocked!
> 
> Again, the character formerly known as "Kurukufumu" in the previous edition is now "Benkikou"


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagome and Inuyasha learn some history. Natsuo invites Kagome to a party. Some thugs get more of a challenge than they expected. Yuka makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, it has not been two weeks since my last update, it's been like...five. There was a scene in this chapter I had to rewrite, which is why it took so long. But then I ended up disliking the new scene even more than the old one, so it was all for nothing. Great. Next chapter should only take two weeks.

Kagome woke up Saturday morning to Inuyasha gently shaking her up. "Kagome," he whispered. "Kagome!"

"Wh'time's it," she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. There was a bit of light from the windows, but the room was mostly dark.

"5:30, I just got back," Inuyasha said.

"Welcome back. You couldn't have waited another two and a half hours?" Kagome sighed, flopping back down. She hadn't seen Inuyasha since he'd walked her home from tutoring the previous evening and gone to work. Though there hadn’t actually been any tutoring that day; Natsuo had shown up on Friday out of uniform, waiting for Kagome so he could tell her he wouldn’t be attending the session, and leaving. He’d been long gone by the time Inuyasha appeared. Kagome was relieved, and angry at herself for it.

Inuyasha waved her sentence away. "Look what I found!"

He held up two pieces of ordinary lined paper, folded into thirds and tied loosely with string. She squinted at them into clarity and took them, untying the string.

"I went to check the well again and these were at the bottom," Inuyasha whispered eagerly. Kagome gasped, reading the letters as he went on. "I figured you'd want to know right away so I didn't read them yet."

Kagome's eyes sped over the words, reading everything her friends had been doing while they'd been blocked on the other side of the well. "I can't believe we didn't think of this," she murmured.

Inuyasha grabbed the letters out of her hands as soon as she finished. His grin slowly faded as he read through and realized Sango and Miroku were no closer to an answer than he was.

"It's nice to hear from them, at least," Kagome said. She got out of bed and went to her desk to start writing a reply.

"Yeah," Inuyasha muttered. "...Although. I didn't know demons could hide other's youki. I thought it was a spiritual power thing."

"Like with Mt **.** Hakurei?"

Inuyasha hummed his agreement.

"And what do you think of Sachi?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha snorted. "Some feral demon lover? What's there to think? She's not my problem." He eyed Kagome, who had put upon a familiar expression. "And she shouldn't be your problem either, Kagome! You don't have to adopt every sad child you meet!"

"I don't _adopt_ them," Kagome muttered unconvincingly.

"Alright," she said, finishing up the letter and taping it shut. "Let's go drop this in the well and get to the Hidden Bureau before the record room closes. If we're lucky, maybe we can deliver our news in person."

* * *

Kagome insisted that they take the subway. At 6:30 AM on a Saturday the trains were empty, and like hell would Kagome give that up so she could freeze in the wind jumping over rooftops.

Kagome sat, and Inuyasha stood in front of her. He held the poll, looking around the train with a casual, bored expression. He still wore his uniform from work the night before. _If it weren’t for his hair and eyes,_ Kagome thought, _he’d fit in just fine here._

“Here’s our stop,” Inuyasha said, and they disembarked. Kagome followed him up and through the streets to the ordinary brick entrance of the Hidden Bureau headquarters.

The main lobby held a receptionist’s desk and several classy chairs around a small, burbling fountain. Kagome gazed around. It looked like any corporate building. She couldn’t have guessed that the place had a club in the back, let alone Tokyo’s demonic population’s entire bureaucracy.

Inuyasha marched up to the receptionist. “Where’s your record room?” he demanded.

The receptionist forced a glassy smile. “Do you have a registry number?”

“What?”

“Just give me your name,” the receptionist said as Kagome meandered over. “I’m sure you’re in the system.”

Inuyasha told her. She typed it into her computer. “Last name?”

Inuyasha glanced at Kagome and his cheeks reddened. “Uh, don’t got one.”

“That’s fine,” she hummed. She clicked on her mouse and then glanced from the screen to Inuyasha with a perplexed expression. “Okay… you’re confirmed.” She turned to Kagome. “Name or registration number?”

“Kagome Higurashi.”

“Higurashi?” The receptionist looked back at her computer screen. “You two are married?”

Kagome squeaked and Inuyasha’s hair puffed up.

“What?” he asked, a decibel short of a shout. “No, of course not!”

The receptionist flinched back in her chair. “Siblings, then?”

“What does this have to do with the record room?” Kagome asked. “I thought it was open to the public.”

“Not the—” she glanced around the empty lobby and said in a whisper, “ _human_ public. It’s open to registered demons, half demons, and their human mates only.”

Inuyasha and Kagome shared a tortured look. “Um,” Kagome said. “Yes, actually, we are married.”

Inuyasha turned away from her and brought his hand to his mouth. Kagome felt a bubble of anger. _You don’t have to look so horrified._

“But you just said—“

“Well, not legally,” Kagome babbled. “We’re too young, I’m fifteen, but in like, the demon way—“

She figured she was just spitting out more rope to hang herself, but the receptionist was nodding. “That’s fine, but I’ll just need some form of ID.”

Kagome’s face still felt pink. She handed the receptionist her school ID. The woman handed it back and turned to type on her computer. “Okay. The record rooms are on floors seven and eight.” She gestured to the elevators.

“Well that was a fucking ordeal,” Inuyasha muttered as they went. The elevators opened and they went in. Kagome hit number seven.

“Hmm,” she grunted.

“We just want to look at some dumb papers, I don’t know why she needed us to be married for that.”

“Mm.”

“Why are you angry?” Inuyasha asked.

“I’m not angry!” Kagome snapped as the doors slid open. She boiled out. “Let’s go look at some dumb papers.”

The doors opened to a looming maze of bookshelves, with a conveniently placed “Information” booth in front of the elevators. Sitting in the booth was a demon that looked like a tiger with opposable thumbs and too many elbows.

Kagome gaped for a hot second. The demon looked up from his book, gasped, and fumbled on a silver bracelet. As soon as he clasped it on, his youki vanished, and his appearance changed to that of an internly-looking man in his early twenties.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t expecting anyone to come this late.”

“No, it’s no trouble.” Kagome coughed out. From the corner of her eye, she saw Inuyasha unclench his hand from Tetsusaiga’s hilt.

“It just seems a bit silly, you know.” The demon was still talking. “To require conduits on at all times in the HB’s _own headquarters,”_

“It’s fine. We’re looking for—“

“They say it’s to prevent inter-species tension, but that hasn’t been an issue since, like, the sixties.”

“We’re looking for historical records,” Inuyasha said loudly. “From the Sengoku Era.”

The demon blinked. “Sengoku? That’s before my time. Check with Furuime upstairs. He sometimes locks the elevator on that floor, so I’ll swipe you in.”

The demon pressed a button on his desk phone then punched in a short code. It rang for several seconds, and then a voice like dry bark spoke.

“What.”

"There are people here who want to see the records, sir,” the intern said.

"Tell them I'm not here. Don’t let them in."

The intern glanced up at Inuyasha and Kagome, listening. “Uh. That’s against the rules, sir.”

The phone just sighed and cut the line.

The intern rolled her eyes, and gestured Inuyasha and Kagome with him into the elevator. "Sorry about him. He’s a crotchety old windbag, but there’s more history in his brain than the rest of the Hidden Bureau combined."

"No worries," Kagome replied cheerfully. _A rude and abrasive demon. How ever will I manage._

The intern pressed the eight button and took an ID card from a lanyard around his neck. He swiped it through a reader below the buttons. The elevator hummed upwards.

The doors opened to a floor very different from the seventh. Where the seventh floor was filled with neat bookshelves, this one was almost haphazard. Glass display cases, leather chests, and filing cabinets of every size filled the floor. There might have been an order to their placement, if you squinted and maybe were drunk.

An old man—demon—hunched at an information desk overflowing with papers. As they entered the room the demon at the desk spared them a quick glance and then returned to arranging his clutter. He grabbed fallen papers from the floor and from the desk seemingly at random and arranged them in a folder.

"Hey geezer, we need your help," Inuyasha said, stepping out. Kagome followed. Furuime didn't look up as he answered.

"Why should I, brat?" He asked.

Inuyasha growled back. "The Madame said you know everything in these records, and that you would help us."

Furuime harrumphed. "The Madame is getting out of touch if she's sending idiot children to bother me- and unglamoured, no less! Just because you’re in the Bureau’s headquarters doesn’t mean you’re safe from the Holy Registry, despite what that young idiot Chuko thinks.” He looked Inuyasha up and down, with his white hair under the baseball cap, talons, and golden eyes. "You trying to get yourself killed?"

"What? Killed by whom?"

Furuime narrowed his eyes and switched his attention to Kagome. His attention snagged at her neck and his breath hitched. "Oh my," he breathed, standing up and approaching. "Now there's something I haven't felt in...centuries." He pointed a gnarled finger at her collarbone.

Kagome grasped her necklace protectively, the little jar with the shards of the Jewel of Four Souls. "You've...you know of the Shikon no Tama?"

Furuime looked Kagome over, and then did the same to Inuyasha again. "What did you two say you were here for?"

"Anything you've got on time travel," Inuyasha said. "Specifically anything that will help us get back to the past."

Furuime wheezed a laugh. "If you'd asked me ten minutes ago if I thought time travel was possible, I'd have said no. But now…" he eyed Kagome again. "I am not so sure. The Shikon no Tama has not been seen in this world for five hundred years. Is that when you want to go?"

Kagome tried to breathe over the pounding of her heart.

"It is," she said quietly.

"Rhetorical question. I can't help you." Furuime turned back to his desk.

"What?! Why not?" Inuyasha snapped, slapping a hand on the desk in front of the wizened old demon. Furuime irritably withdrew a paper from under the hand.

"I have read every story, every record, the Hidden Bureau has given me for the past two hundred years, and lived another four hundred before that. Almost every instance of time travel I have seen is travel to the future, not the past.” Furuime shook his head wistfully. “Ah, time travel. All mortal creatures yearn for the chance to go back and fix their mistakes. There are demons who can speed up time, or freeze it—the dragon Ryujin sent the human Urashima Taro three hundred years into the future. You’ve heard the story, I’m sure.”

Kagome nodded.

“But despite what the humans believe, Ryujin was not a god. He was a powerful demon. To travel to the past is not the domain of demons. To travel to the past, you need a god.”

"Well then, how do we find a god!?" Inuyasha asked.

“You? You don’t,” Furuime said. “If you were a high enough ranking member of the Holy Registry, maybe you could get in touch with a Spirit Detective.” He continued wryly under his breath, “or go get into fights in bars and run into him by accident.”

"The hell is a Spirit Detective?" Inuyasha snapped.

"If you have to ask, you’re not cleared to find out." Inuyasha managed to hold himself back from smacking the old demon. "Go get clearance from the Madame and come back, and maybe then we can talk."

“You keep mentioning the Holy Registry,” Kagome interrupted. She placed a hand on Inuyasha’s arm to hold him back. “What is that, again?”

Furuime raised his eyebrows. "Well, I suppose if you two are travelers from the past, you might not know. The Holy Registry is a loose association of humans with spiritual powers. Some of them work with the Hidden Bureau. They're the ones who bespell our jewelry to glamour our appearances." He lifted a hand, revealing the simple silver ring around his finger.

"Right, I remember," Kagome said.

"We work together, but they certainly don't consider demons...equal to humans," Furuime growled. "Most of their ranks don't know the Bureau exists at all, and would love nothing more than to exorcise every demon in Japan. With or without justification. Which is why we must change our appearance and hide our youki. These days most normal humans can't sense it."

Kagome nodded slowly. "Doesn't it hurt the demons, to have their youki purified?" Certainly no demon had been able to pass through the youki-hiding barrier around Mt. Hakurei unharmed.

Furuime shook his head. "Not purified. Hidden. That one is a demon trick, not a spiritual one. We're not called the "Purified Bureau!" He cackled at his joke.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. He was more powerful than any other pure demon he'd met in this era, and had less to fear from humans, too. He didn't care about this conversation. He needed to find a god.

"Can you tell us anything else, or are we just wasting our time?" Inuyasha asked Furuime. "C'mon Kagome." He turned to leave.

"Actually…" Furuime said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Your name is Kagome?"

"Yes, why?"

"There is one story I recall, though it wasn't described as time travel. A legend about the priestess named Kagome, who shattered the Jewel of Four Souls." He leered at Kagome. "It was said she appeared from another world at the bottom of a well. Sound familiar?"

Inuyasha was at the desk in a blink, grabbing the demon by his collar. "Stop playing with us."

Furuime seemed flustered- whatever response he'd been expecting, it wasn't that. Kagome put a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder and gently pulled him back. "Master Furuime," she said. "Could you please tell us everything you know about that legend?"

"I, I- I did!" Furuime stuttered. "The mysterious priestess appears in a well, shatters the jewel, and is never heard from again!"

"Nothing? What about the demon Naraku?"

"Ah, now Naraku I remember from my own life, cursed be his name. Fortunately I never met the creature." Furuime, still tense, leaned back in his chair and glared skittishly at Inuyasha. "I remember he was a foul half breed who collected the shards of the shattered jewel. He made many enemies. I suppose one of them did him in, for I eventually stopped hearing about him."

"Do you know how he died? Who did it?" Kagome asked desperately. Furuime shrugged and shook his head.

"Many powerful demons desired the honor of finishing him off, that I know. But there are no records of which one actually succeeded. Perhaps there is a demon still alive in the demon world who remembers."

"In the **_what?!"_** Kagome and Inuyasha both asked in unison.

Furuime curled his lip at her. "That information has existed for well over five hundred years. You have no excuse for not knowing, and it is not my job to provide basic demonic education." He turned his attention to Inuyasha. "Ask The Madame about it, if you're so close. It's her _favorite_ topic of conversation." He snickered.

Inuyasha paused. “The demon world,” he said. “Is it also called the Other Side, or the Border of the Afterlife?”

Furuime grunted. “So you have heard of it. The Other Side, Makai, the Border of the Afterlife—these are all names that have been used in the past, but the demon world is the simplest and most commonly used nowadays. This is all theoretical, of course,” he said. “Access to the demon world is guarded most zealously by the Holy Registry. Not even the S-class demons on the other side can break through.”

“But if we did get to the Other Side,” Inuyasha said, “would there be a god there who could take us back?” He shared a weighted glance with Kagome and brought his hand up to hover over his right eye. They’d gone to the Other Side through the magic jewel in Inuyasha’s eye before. Maybe it could bring them there again.

Furuime shook his head. “The gods steer clear of that place. I only mentioned it because the demons there are old enough to remember Naraku. No, the only way a demon is likely to get in touch with a god is if he could get a favor from a god’s familiar, or became one himself.”

Furuime looked Inuyasha up and down. “And they’re not typically interested in half breeds.”

Kagome interrupted Inuyasha’s response before it could start. “I don’t think this is the right direction,” she said quietly. She drew him close and whispered into his ear. “The problem is with the well, which never gave us problems before. I think we need to look at what might have changed with the well before we go searching for gods.”

"Not to mention," Kagome went on, "Do we want to go through this every time we need to travel between eras? We don't know how trustworthy or accurate those gods might be, either…" she fell silent. Insane, how she thought of gods and time travel like an unreliable bus line.

She turned back to Furuime. “The Bone Eater’s Well,” she said. “From the legend you mentioned. Are there any records on it here?”

The old demon drew his attention away from his papers. “It is mentioned as a landmark in a few old letters,” he snapped. “And the legend of how it eats demon bones, of course.” He grudgingly added, “If you need them I can tell you where to access the physical files. You can read them in the, ah,” he glanced at the clock. “Twenty minutes until we close up.”

Kagome and Inuyasha shared a morose look. “That’s alright,” she said. “I think we’ve learned all we can here.”

* * *

Yuka made it her business to know everything in her school. Who was doing what- or whom- and how, why, and where. She knew the names of almost every one of the 400+ students at XX Middle School. So when the delinquent with the black eye stuck his head around the corner of the door to classroom 3-B, Yuka knew enough to be wary.

Natsuo Morikawa was smiling slightly. He did that a lot, Yuka had heard: grinning even through a beating, whether giving one or getting. But his bruised face lit up like a torch when he spotted Kagome.

"Kagome," he yipped, bounding inside and inserting himself between her and Hojo (who had been extolling the benefits of acupressure. You really must try them Higurashi, they'll do wonders for your circulation.) Yuka's jaw dropped. Eri, who had been talking loudly with Ayumi, fell silent and caught her wide eyes. _This_ was the "Natsuo" Kagome was tutoring? She'd never given a family name. The way she'd described him, Yuka had thought he was some innocent first year with crazy ADHD, not the boy known as XX Middle School's "Loaded Gun." Kagome looked up from her conversation with a curious smile. She didn't flinch when she saw who called her name.

"Hi Natsuo!" Kagome greeted him back. _They were on a first name basis?!_ Hojo made a polite greeting as well as Kagome gasped at Natsuo's shiner. "Oh my gosh, what happened to your face?!"

"Oh, I. Uh. It's nothing." Morikawa shrugged and glanced away, but his smile didn't shrink. "I wanted to apologize for what happened on Thursday night, with those guys. And for running out so fast on Friday."

"Friday?" Kagome looked up in memory. "Oh yeah! It was kind of silly to stop by just to tell me you wouldn't be coming," she scolded. "Did you have that bruise then? You should have just stayed."

Morikawa's torch-bright grin now shone like a lighthouse. He saluted eagerly. "No Ma'am, I learned my lesson last time. Even if you can't stay for the lesson, you _don't_ leave Miss Kagome Higurashi waiting!"

Yuka met Eri's eyes again and mouthed ' _Holy crap!'_ Eri raised her eyebrows in agreement. Was Natsuo Morikawa, king of skipped class and dumpster-alley fistfights, _flirting_ with their Kagome?

Kagome smiled as Morikawa went on. "Anyway, I'm really sorry about those guys."

Kagome shook her head. "There's nothing to apologize for. You saved me, after all." She reached up to hover her hand over his greening eye. "Was this from…"

Morikawa took hold her of her hand. "I told you, don't worry about it. I wanted to make it up for you. I mean to you! I mean, um." He held her hand in both of his and stammered on. "I was wondering if you wanted to...well, my friends and I are having a party this Thursday night, I was wondering if you wanted to come?"

Kagome gaped. Yuka saw her eyes glaze, gazing into some memory or imagining. "A party…?" she said. She absently extricated herself from Morikawa's grip. "A party…"

"Yeah, it'll be really fun! My friend's gonna bring booze- unless you don't approve of that, in which case there will be no alcohol- and there's gonna be lots of music and dancing."

Hasegawa-sensei walked in, brandishing his briefcase. "Alright everyone, let's begin."

Kagome fazed back to the present. "Can I bring a friend?"

Morikawa's smile grew rigid and he blinked. "Oh yeah. Sure." He looked up at the rest of the group for the first time that conversation. "You guys are all welcome too." Eri, Yuka, and Hojo did not respond. Ayumi said a cheerful "cool, thanks!"

"Class is starting, everyone," Hasegawa-sensei said. "If you belong here, take your seats. If you don't, now is the time to leave."

"In that case," Kagome looked up at Morikawa with a fierce grin on her face. "I am _definitely_ coming _."_

"For example," Hasegawa droned on, "If your teacher is Riza Hinamori and your name is Natsuo Morikawa, you do not belong in this class."

Natsuo wasn't listening. "Wow, seriously? I can't believe- I mean, that's great! This is really great. I can-"

"MR. MORIKAWA," Hasegawa boomed. "It is wonderful to see you attending class for once, but please do so in your own classroom!"

The class tittered, but Morikawa was too elated to let them bring him down. He was still babbling as the teacher grabbed his collar and dragged him to the door. "Okay, I'll see you then Kagome! Can't wait! I'll tell youtheaddresstoni-" before Hasegawa shut the door in his face.

As Hasegawa returned to the front and everyone filed to their desks, Yuka took the opportunity to turn around and whack Kagome on the head with her notebook. "Kagome, what the hell!" she whispered. "You're friends with the _Loaded Gun?_ Why didn't you _tell me?!"_

"I thought you knew! Besides, we aren't doing anything that's interesting to you!" Kagome whispered back, rubbing her head. Yuka recalled Morikawa's fluster and grabby hands and thought, _Oh honey._

But even though Yuka lived for that stuff, she cared even more about Kagome's safety. "You're not actually gonna go, are you?"

"Of course I am, aren't you? Yuka, you've got to come! I can't show him off if you're not there!" Kagome whispered beseechingly. She leaned forward to grab the hand holding the notebook and moaned quietly. "Pleeeeaaaasee Yukaaaaaa-"

"Show who off?" Yuka hissed. "Morikawa?! Girl, he's dangerous!" Kagome snorted, like _yeah right._

"Higurashi, Shimizu, I don't want to hear another word out of either of you unless it's algebra," Hasegawa intoned.

"You haven't even started teaching yet!" Yuka retorted as Kagome sat back in her chair obediently. The teacher glared at her.

"You open that mouth again and you're standing in the hall," he said. Yuka simmered but held her tongue. She heard Kagome mutter something behind her.

"I am not just proving it to myself," she muttered. "I'll show him how proud I am of him, in front of everyone. I'll show him!"

* * *

Kagome buttoned up her book bag with a snap and stretched. Standing up from the desk next to her, Natsuo did the same. Natsuo had been distracted today, (water is wet,) but he'd managed to pick up material even faster than usual.

Natsuo turned to look out the black window. "I'd really like to walk you home tonight," he said. "After what happened on Thursday, I don't think you should go alone."

Kagome shook her head with a smile. "I appreciate it, but I won't be walking alone. My...friend is coming to pick me up." They started walking to the exit.

Natsuo's eyebrows furrowed. "A girl?"

"No, a boy. Don't worry, he can protect me."

They reached the main school doors. It was drizzling slightly. Kagome stopped by the entrance to pull out a collapsible umbrella from her bag and lean against the doors. Natsuo mirrored her on the other side.

"It's really fine," she said. "You can go."

"Yeah, well." Natsuo put his arms up behind his head, gazing out into the rainy evening. "I'd rather wait until your friend gets here. Also I don't have an umbrella."

Kagome smirked. Natsuo grinned back at her. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "You didn't strike me as the type to go to parties on a school night."

"I'm really not," Kagome shrugged back. "But lately I've realized that school and grades really aren't the most important thing in the world. And I like dancing as much as the next girl." _That, and one other reason._ Kagome felt a guilt cramp her gut. She was going to that party for exactly one reason, and that reason had nothing to do with Natsuo. Was she misleading him?

"I didn't think you'd say yes. I know I kinda have a ...reputation at this school." Natsuo lowered his arms and glanced around, avoiding Kagome's eyes. "Like, tutoring that crazy delinquent kid is one thing, but they're making you do that. No one's asking you to hang out with me in your spare time."

"No," Kagome cut him off. "I don't care what anyone else says. Even if I'd _known_ your reputation, I judge you by you." She smiled softly into the courtyard and continued quietly, "Everyone deserves that much, at least. Besides," she met his wide eyes with a grin. "You're not that scary."

For once, Natsuo wasn't smiling. His eyes were too wide, and his mouth seemed to have fallen open without his noticing. "Aw, Kagome…!"

He leaped over and grabbed her in a hug, squeezing her shoulders tightly. Kagome squeaked a "no, hey!"

But before she could say anything else a firm hand grabbed her shoulder, claws pressing her skin through the fabric of her shirt. Its partner was on Natsuo, tearing him away from her and pushing him roughly back. Kagome felt the hand push her behind a familiar back in familiar scarlet.

As he recognized the person in front of him, Natsuo's shocked, open mouth gritted in rage. His cheeks reddened with fury. His relaxed posture had vanished, and he curled his hand into fists. "You!" he hissed.

Yellow eyes glared back coldly at him. "Yeah," Inuyasha said, cracking his knuckles as he formed his fingers into a claw. "Me."

* * *

Inuyasha knew, logically, that Kagome had a life outside of him. Hell, he spent half his damn time trying to drag her away from it. But when he landed on that school roof and heard her chatting with someone he didn't know about things he didn't know about, it felt strange in his heart and his stomach.

A deep breath later and he realized he did know the boy she was talking to. It was the kid he'd thrown out of the club, Nasty or Nacho or something. And he and Kagome were talking and suddenly he was on top of her and Inuyasha moved without thinking. No, that's wrong; he was thinking plenty, and that thought was _get your hands off of my Kagome!_

"You!" The boy trembled with hatred when he saw Inuyasha, and Inuyasha thrilled for a fight. Because even though Nacho was a wimpy little human, Inuyasha had smelled the desire on him when he'd hugged Kagome. And now, for some reason, he wanted to rip the brat limb from limb.

"Yeah. Me," Inuyasha growled back.

Natsuo threw a punch at him but Inuyasha caught his fist, using it to reel the boy in closer. He grabbed his collar, raised his fist-

"INUYASHA, _SIT BOY!"_

 _-_ And was slammed face-first into the floor with all the spiritual power Kagome could muster. Natsuo, whose shirt was still caught in Inuyasha fist, was dragged down with him. Inuyasha let out a half-hearted "Dammit, Kagome!"

Inuyasha recovered first. He lifted himself on his hands as Kagome raced between him and Natsuo.

"Ka-"

"What is wrong with you?!" Kagome exclaimed. For once, Inuyasha saw with dawning shock, _she wasn't yelling at him!_

Natsuo looked stunned as he levered himself to his feet. He'd never seen Kagome really angry. Inuyasha watched with glee.

"You- just, you-" she sputtered at him. "I just finish telling you how I don't think you're a bad person and you immediately attack my friend?! What, did you just want to prove me wrong? "

Natsuo waved his hands frantically. His eyes were as round and white as the moon. "No, no! Kagome I just-"

"And _completely_ unprovoked too!" Kagome grabbed her bangs, tugging them so that her hands covered her eyes and she didn't have to look at either of the two idiots in front of her. "I know Inuyasha does a lot of stuff that makes people want to punch him-"

"Hey!" Inuyasha put in.

"But he said _two words_ and that is not enough to start throwing punches."

"You don't understand, Kagome!" Natsuo pleaded. "This bastard totally humiliated me the other day, he deserved…" he swallowed thickly, stammering. Kagome stared hotly, waiting for an explanation. Natsuo fell silent.

"I told you, I judge people by what I see, not by what others say," Kagome said quietly. "And I thought I saw that you were better than this.

"Come on, Inuyasha," she said. She strode into the rainy courtyard, opening her umbrella with a snap. She did not look back to see if Inuyasha obeyed. He stared at her, speechless. But as he walked follow her, she called back, "I'll see you tomorrow Natsuo."

The Natsuo’s sick expression loosened, just a bit. But as Kagome passed through the gate Inuyasha turned and shot at Natsuo a gleeful, gloating smirk.

Natsuo’s hands tightened enough to leave angry purple nail-marks on his palm.

He _hated_ that guy.

* * *

Inuyasha was feeling smug as they left the school grounds, but he recognized Kagome’s stiff-shouldered stomp enough to know he wasn’t out of the woods.

"Hey Kagome-" he put his hand on her shoulder. She slapped it off with her bag. Yep, she was angry at him.

"Seriously? Why are you pissed at me this time? _He_ was the one attacking _me,_ remember?" He huffed. Seeing Kagome yelling Natsuo had made him realize he was tired of being the target of her anger all the time.

She whirled on him. "Really? I _saw_ that you were going to hit him back, Inuyasha! As if he's actually a threat to you?"

"He- you-" Inuyasha sputtered. "What, so I'm supposed to just take it any time some uppity human wants to hurt me? I'm never allowed to fight back? It's not as if he wouldn't have deserved it. And I'm not an idiot, Kagome, I know how to hold back when I hit humans!" Inuyasha knew exactly how much strength to put into each punch, whether he was hitting Shippo or Nacho or a three-story ogre. But when he'd curled up his fist to attack Natsuo, he'd still had the scent of the boy's lust in his nostrils. He'd still heard Kagome's dismayed squeak of _no!_ when Natsuo had jumped on her.

And maybe he wouldn’t have held back as much as he should have.

Kagome looked away, ashamed. "Oh," she muttered.

Inuyasha folded his arms smugly, even as he realized he might have killed (well, hospitalize) that kid. All just because he was jea- for no good reason at all. _Shit._ If Kagome hadn't sat him… But then, if Kagome hadn't been with Natsuo in the first place…

"I'm sorry," Kagome said quietly. She hid her face in her hands, between the umbrella and the book bag. "I misjudged you again," she mumbled through her fingers. More quietly: " _God,_ why do I keep doing that?"

"Nah, actually," Inuyasha muttered. He scratched his head, embarrassed. "You, uh, probably made the right decision actually."

She lifted her face to lift an eyebrow and smirk. He huffed and rolled his eyes and shoved her lightly on the shoulder. She stumbled, laughing. "So was I right to be angry?"

" _No,"_ he protested. "Since I didn't actually hit him."

"But if you had?"

"Then I give you permission to be angry."

"Don't worry Inuyasha," she assured him. "I'll always be there to stop you."

"Oh gee thanks," he drawled sarcastically, tugging fruitlessly at the beads of subjugation around his neck. But he looked away from her so she wouldn't see his smile or his warming cheeks.

They walked on, until they turned a corner and Kagome stopped dead. Inuyasha, slightly behind her, almost walked into her.

There were five men loitering faux-casually several yards down the sidewalk. In the light of the street lamp Inuyasha could even make out one of the faces- hell, it was that same fucker who'd tried to take home the drunk girl from Higurashi shrine. It was beating him up that had caused Inuyasha and Kagome's last big row.

Kagome stared at the group. Inuyasha heard the percussion of her heart and smelled the sweat that shone suddenly on her forehead.

"Inuyasha," she whispered. She turned to him furtively and looked into his eyes intently. "I need you to stay here, out of sight, until I call you. I need to ask these guys some questions. Please."

Inuyasha glanced at them and then Kagome. He nodded. They made her afraid, but he trusted that she was in control of the situation.

Kagome walked forward. She'd been startled when she first saw them, the sight of them inspiring immediate, unreasoning terror. They were the same thugs who had so frightened her on Thursday, plus more. But walking forward, she wasn't scared at all. Her heart raced not from fear but exhilaration. Inuyasha was with her. She was invincible.

Kagome walked forward calmly, umbrella in one hand and book bag in the other. She didn't cross the street. She didn't avoid their cruel, eager leers. She met their gazes and walked forward as calmly as if she were passing a granny at midday.

They spread out to form a loose semicircle around her, taking up the sidewalk. Three high schoolers in two different uniforms and two men in jeans and hoodies. One of the adults stepped forward. She stopped walking.

"Hey gorgeous," he purred. "I know it's been a while but-"

"What do you want with Natsuo Morikawa?" Kagome interrupted. The boys all looked stunned. Their leader laughed, off-balance. Small girl? Was not afraid?

"So you and Morikawa are buddies after all, huh?" Leader ignored her question and went on. He stepped close to Kagome so that their chests were almost touching. He leered down at her, looming. Trying to intimidate her and reclaim control of the conversation. Kagome felt nothing but warm safety in her heart and smiled sweetly. She was invincible.

"Well, uh, if you don't want to get hurt just shut up and come with us," Leader went on. He grabbed her wrist and tugged her forward. Kagome followed obligingly, glancing backwards with a smile. She saw a flash of scarlet in a cone of lamplight, and then he was hidden again.

"Now you're just gonna call your little boyfriend when we get where we're going and nobody gets hurt," Leader said. The other hoodie'd guy snorted.

"What, really?" Kagome stopped short. Leader looked back at her sudden resistance, surprised. " That's so...cliche," she sighed. “Like, bad guys have been pulling that dumb ploy for five hundred years. You couldn’t come up with something more original? You're just going to kidnap me and have me call Natsuo in to a trap?”

"Yes, you stupid bitch, now shut up and keep moving," the leader snarled. He yanked hard on her arm, trying to cause pain. He wasn't used to girls not being afraid of him and he didn't like it. Kagome stumbled forward and dropped her book bag in a puddle. Her arm hurt in the man's tight grip.

"I've seen enough, and I'm tired of this." Kagome spoke loudly. "Inuy-"

He was already there, like a scarlet whirlwind: punching one thug in the face, sending him wheeling. He made a quick uppercut into Leader's solar plexus. The man let go and fell, wheezing and white faced. Inuyasha kicked him into a wall. Two of the high schoolers tried to rush him and he whacked them across the heads with a sheathed Tetsusaiga. The third student and the other now-bleeding hoodie lunged at him. Inuyasha grabbed the high schooler's outstretched fist and used it to spin the boy into his gangmate. They collided forcefully and fell to the ground. Slipping Tetsusaiga's sheath back in place on his belt, Inuyasha casually kicked the high schooler in the ribs hard enough to push him along the sidewalk. He lifted the hoodie by his collar against the brick building wall.

"Hey there," Inuyasha growled. "Remember me?" He slammed the man's head into the wall. He fell limp with a whimper.

Inuyasha then went over to the leader, who was recovering enough to unbend, almost. He grabbed Leader's hoodie and lifted him as he gasped in pain, screwing his collar tight so the man struggled for air.

"Here's what's gonna happen," Inuyasha growled coolly while the man choked and wheezed. "You're going to leave this girl alone. You're not going to touch her, approach her, look at her, or even come near this school again." With his free hand Inuyasha grasped the man's face, forcing him to look into his yellow eyes. His claws dug into the man's cheeks, drawing little beads of blood that dribbled down his neck. The leader stared, wide-eyed and trembling.

"And if Kagome says she even saw your _shadow,"_ he went on, "I'm going to come back and make what I'm _about_ to do feel like a relaxing massage." Then he punched him in the stomach again and kneed him hard in the groin. The man fell, gasping and crying and curling into a ball.

"So," Inuyasha said to Kagome. "We good to go?"

She had picked up her bag and was waiting patiently outside of the splash zone. She nodded.

"That was very different than your usual style," Kagome commented as they walked away from the small pile of moaning men Inuyasha had left on the sidewalk. "You're usually much more...hack and slashy."

"Yeah well," Inuyasha shrugged. "I can't exactly kill humans as I would demons. You'd _definitely_ be pissed. Also there's the whole Hidden Bureau thing, they'd be on my ass about it too."

Kagome laughed and reached out to grab Inuyasha's hand with her own, so they held the bag between the two of them. Inuyasha looked at their clasped hands with bewilderment. Kagome just smiled, and swung their arms as they walked together.

"What's with you?" Inuyasha asked. "You were so angry before."

"Well now I'm happy," Kagome answered. "Because I know that no matter what, no matter how much we fight, you'll always have my back. And I'll always have yours. Even when we're angry with each other." She looked at Inuyasha with a smile so full of love and warmth that it made everything, even getting stuck in this stupid future, seem worth it. He knew in that moment that Kagome would never leave him. And Inuyasha knew that as long as he and Kagome were together everything would be okay.

* * *

"I'm home." Yuka spoke as quietly as possible, hoping she could make it to her room before anyone realized track was long over and she should have been home hours ago. Unfortunately, both her sisters were in the den, with a clear view of the front door.

"Yuka's home!" Honoka shouted up the stairs. Yuka gave her little sister a wide-eyed, pursed-lip look that translated to _I will strangle you at the next opportunity._ Honoka glared back at her. _You're not getting away so easy. If we have to deal with him so do you._

Their father shouted down the stairs. "Yuka! Get up here!"

With a loathing in her stomach, Yuka took off her shoes and threw her book bag at her sister before obeying. She ignored her sister's shout of pain and stomped up the stairs. She came to the open door of her father's dark study and stood, waiting.

"You're late." Her father didn't even turn around to admonish her. His eyes stayed glued to the television, the only source of light in the gloomy room.

"No I'm not, I came straight home from track practice."

"Straight home doesn’t mean stopping in every store between her and there.” Here he turned to look at her, rage in his eyes. "I've told you to come straight home a thousand times and you insist on testing my patience."

It was true, she had drawn out her after-school ice cream with Eri and Ayumi as long as they would bear. "I'm fifteen, do you expect me not to have a social life outside of school?" Yuka snapped. "I was with Eri and Ayumi and I told you about that! What do you want from me?"

"You are supposed to come back from school quickly to watch your sisters, which is your job!"

"What, do you have somewhere you need to be?" Yuka shouted back. "Like, I don't know, your own job maybe?"

"Don't you take that attitude with me!" Her father roared, lifting his massive bulk out of his chair. Yuka backed up a step. _Idiot._ She never knew how to keep her mouth shut. "I am your father and you will address me with RESPECT, you little brat! You live in MY house, spend MY money-" _Yeah, the money you earn in front of the TV while mom actually works for a living? "_ -and walk around as if you own the place!"

Her father came up close to her, and Yuka took another step backwards into the hall. He'd never actually laid a finger on her or her family, but he liked to get up close to loom over her and shout in her face. Yuka was always worried that this time, this fight, he really would hit her.

"I have had it up to _here_ with your sass," her father continued shouting. "You seem to think this 'hanging out' is a right you deserve-"

"Just because you don't have any friends doesn't mean I don't!" Yuka screamed back. "And yeah, I think the right to see them _is_ pretty fundamental-"

"WELL IT'S NOT!" Her father roared. "You're grounded! From now on no track, no ice cream with-"

"You can't do that!" Yuka screamed. "I have a team that's depending on me!"

"-And you don't leave the house on weekends without my permission!" Her father's face was red and bulging, close enough that the spit from his bellows landed on her forehead. She wiped it away irritably.

"You can't do that," she repeated.

"I can and I am," her father hissed back. "Now give me your phone."

She handed it over. He wasn't going to take it away- he was the one who insisted she have in on her. If she could, she'd never take it out of her desk drawer. Her father looked through her call log, her texts, and did the hack thing he did to see if she’d deleted any texts. (She hadn't.) He read through the messages. Most of them were from him or her mom, with a few from track teammates asking about practice or classmates concerning homework.

"Don't ignore my calls anymore," he growled, looking through the call log again.

"I didn't. The phone was on silent for school and I didn't hear it," Yuka lied. She'd stared at the little black flip phone-the Leash, as she thought of it- as her father's name glowed on the front screen. Wishing she could drop it in a sewer.

He handed back the phone. Yuka pocketed it and managed, miraculously, not to say anything else inflammatory before she got downstairs.

"Why do you argue with him?" Honoka asked when she got to the den. Yuka picked up her book bag wordlessly. "Seriously, when he says you're late, just say 'sorry dad, won't happen again,' and do what you would have done anyway."

"Shut up," Yuka said.

In her room, Yuka stuck her head out the window. Unfortunately the night was still. The sound of wind always made her feel safe. The susurration of leaves or whispers, barely audible. They felt like someone just out of sight, watching and protecting her.

There was no way Yuka was quitting track. She'd rather quit oxygen. And to not see her friends? To not be able to gossip and laugh with them, to be forced to live without escape in her own life? Not happening.

Yuka hated using her cell phone, when every timed conversation was at her father's perusal. But she couldn't say what she was about to say on the landline, where her sisters or father might pick up and listen in. As she dialed in Eri's number, Yuka' s plan took shape, and she thought about what she could do that would piss off her father the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last time I published the previous chapter, some people had questions about Inuyasha's age, and why I write him as being the same age as Kagome. The issue is discussed in depth here: inu-fanon.tumblr.com/post/68576450357/character-ages and also here inu-fanon.tumblr.com/post/68672108013/clothing-and-time-periods-in-inuyasha
> 
> So far in this fic I have referenced/cameo'd three other supernatural mangas, two of them in this chapter. Can anyone guess what they are?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sango gets some new information. Kagome hosts a sleepover. Inuyasha gets in a fight. Yuka goes home.

TUESDAY

Sachi was getting sick.

Each day since the bite, Kaede would change Sachi's bandages. And each day Shippo, Sango, and Miroku had to hold Sachi down as she screamed and struggled. But despite dousing the wound in sake and Kagome's disinfectant and wrapping it in boiled linens, it was getting worse.

Sango kneeled next to Sachi, hands on her shoulder and leg. Miroku held down her other shoulder, and the arm with her wounded hand. But as Kaede unwrapped the bandages, Sachi didn't struggle. She let out a quiet whine that faded into nothing.

"This is not good," Kaede murmured. The hand was red and puffy, and Sango saw a lattice of red lines under the skin, extending out from the bite.

"Shit," Sango muttered. Kaede flicked her eyes upward to acknowledge her. Was her glance judgemental? Condemning? In the instant of eye contact, Sango couldn't tell. She repositioned her unnecessary grip on Sachi as Kaede drained the pus and flushed the bite with water. When she poured the sake Sachi let out a howl, but she didn't buck and yank her arm away.

"Shippo, go get the painkiller," Miroku ordered tersely.

"We gave her the last one this morning!" Shippo wailed over Sachi's sobs. Miroku cursed under his breath.

Sachi's tears slowed down as Kaede finished bandaging the wound. She blinked sluggishly. She didn't scream or fidget as Sango picked her up and moved her onto her futon. Sango could feel the girl's body heat through her clothing. Fever. _Shit._

Sango had been bitten by demons dozens of times, with mouths filthier than the rat demon's. Two days of the same treatment Kaede gave Sachi and she'd have been good to go. But she'd seen slayers who weren't so resilient. If they continue to sicken even after five days, they didn't get better.

It had been four days since Sachi was bitten.

Kaede approached and covered Sachi with a thick winter blanket. Miroku followed with some bricks wrapped in fabric, hot from the hearth. He placed them to both hold the blanket down and warm Sachi inside it.

"Take this, Shippo," Kaede said, handing him a metal pail. "Stay here with her. This is for if she starts to vomit. I have other duties to which I must attend, but if she does start vomiting, come for me immediately."

Shippo nodded, looking sick. Sango was feeling much the same. Miroku glanced between Sachi and Sango, concerned.

"I'm also going to go," Sango said, standing up from the sickbed. "I need to finish up with that infestation at O-Kisa's home." She pointed to the plastic water bottle, another accidental gift from Kagome. "Make sure she keeps drinking, all right? _Especially_ if there's any vomiting or diarrhea." Shippo nodded again. "I'll be back in half an hour."

"I'll stay here," Miroku said. He sat down against the wall next to Sachi's futon. Shippo scampered around the bed to sit next to him.

Sango nodded, queasy. She grabbed the necessary slaying tools and walked out of the dim and stuffy hut. The bright, cool morning was a welcome relief. Sango was the one who ought to be sitting by that bed, not Miroku. If she hadn't had other obligations, she would have. _This is my fault._

The road to O-Kisa's hut took Sango to the outskirts of the village, along the rice paddies. A rush of wind from behind made Sango stumble. She whirled around, clutching Hiraikotsu's sash. She looked out at the placid rice paddies under a still blue sky. There was nothing behind her.

And then there was.

There were six demons, suddenly visible. Sango flinched violently and took a step back. They were arrayed in a loose semicircle around her. All were vaguely human-shaped and stood on two legs, except for one. In all her life, Sango had never seen a demon she didn't recognize, either from books or stories or teammates. But this one was unfamiliar.

Sango withdrew Hiraikotsu from its sash on her back, ready to swing if the demons attacked. None of them moved, including the strange one. It had what looked like the head of an ox, minus the horns, but its eyes were set forward in its skull like a predator. Its round body stood on six spindly legs that ended in clawed feet like a lizard's. Strangest of all was the monster's fur- it was a dark purple, and it waved in the still air like smoke or clouds.

"I thought I could not have been more clear," the bug-like demon said. Its voice was less windy and ethereal now. It spoke the same gravelly growl as any demon, but Sango recognized it. Her muscles tensed and her heart began pumping adrenaline through her body.

Benkikous were most well known for their anonymity, ironically. They were impossible to sense, even to touch, when they were hidden. But they couldn't touch her either, in that state. Benkikous revealed themselves to attack: their youki, their touch, maybe scent or sound. The more they revealed, the more powerful the attack.

But no one in the demon slayer's clan had ever _seen_ one.

"I shall put it in terms even you understand, slayer," the Benkikou went on. "The maiden is dying. If she does not recover within three days, or if her demise seems imminent, I will eat her. And if she dies, I will then kill you."

Benkikou blinked out of existence. One by one, the rest of the demon audience did the same.

"Wait!" Sango cried out as the last one disappeared. "Please, I'm trying to save her- I want her to heal as much as you do, but-" she swallowed her terror. This would either work, or do nothing, but it couldn't hurt to try. Or she would piss off six powerful demons who already wanted to kill her.

"But I need your help. I need Kagome back," Sango begged. "Kagome can bring back powerful medicines from the future, but only if- Please, you know why the well isn't working don't you? You're behind it, I'm sure of it."

There was only silence. Sango buried one fist in her hair. Her heart ached- fear that she would never see her friends again. Fear that a child would die because of her thoughtlessness.

But then a breeze blew past her ear. _You are correct,_ whispered the voice. _It was I who enabled the nurikabe to pass through the well, at the maiden's behest._

"Nurikabe?" Sango exclaimed. She'd known that whatever blocked the well was a demon, but not that it was such a garden-variety type as a nurikabe, which manifested as invisible, impenetrable walls that blocked travelers on roads. "So that means you can bring it back, right?" She didn't know how the benkikou had overcome the magic of the well. She didn't care, as long as it meant she could bring Kagome back and save Sachi.

Silence. It lasted long enough that Sango thought the demon had left for real. As she slung Hiraikotsu back over her back, the voice spoke again.

 _No._ It said. _I can only send individuals forward from this time. The Nurikabe must return of its own volition._

"How? How can it pass through the well without you?"

_I do not know._

Sango wanted to rip her hair out in frustration. "You have to know _something_! Don't you know how the well's magic works? How did you send it forward in the first place?"

This time there was no response. Sango waited several minutes, but no wind stirred her hair. No voice whispered in her ear.

 _Damn,_ she thought, walking forward. She still had an infestation to exterminate. _So damn close!_ After weeks of mystery they finally knew what was blocking the well and there was nothing she could do about it!

Sango inhaled slowly, held her breath, and let it out. She counted to ten. _Calm down._ She would go to O-Kisa and do her job. Then she would return to Sachi's bedside and feed her as much broth and rice gruel as she could. She would tell Miroku her news and write a letter.

There was nothing she or Miroku could do from there side. But maybe Kagome and Inuyasha would be able to solve the mystery in time to save Sachi...and her.

* * *

"That guy who picked you up last night. Is he your boyfriend?"

Kagome, who had been about to speak, inhaled her spit instead and started coughing. Natsuo, who had asked the question, leaned across the desk to pound unhelpfully on her back. They had been discussing trigonometry.

"No!" Kagome wheezed out. She waved his hand away. Her face was burning- probably from the coughing. "No, definitely not! He's my friend. A good friend. But we're just friends!"

Natsuo sat back, smiling. "Really? He seemed kinda-"

"-We're just friends!" Kagome honked out between coughs. Natsuo laughed as Kagome finally regained her breath.

"Okay," she said. "Geeze. You finished those problems?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah," Natsuo lied, bending his head down to scribble some calculations down on his paper. After a minute, he said, "He just seemed kind of pos-"

"Don't talk to me unless you've finished those problems," Kagome interrupted. She'd given up trying to be polite with this boy; he didn't comprehend anything more subtle than a fist to the face.

Natsuo smirked and shut up, finishing the exercises. He lifted the paper off his desk with a flourish and handed it to her. "Sensei."

"Student," Kagome responded. She took the paper and compared his answers to her own. They were all correct, unsurprisingly. For the past few days of tutoring, Natsuo had caught on shockingly quickly. She didn't think he really even needed her at this point.

"Well done!" she said. "They're all the same as what I got." Standing up, she looked outside at the dim evening light- they'd finished early. "I guess we're done," she said.

Natsuo pouted. "But Kagome-senseeeiiiii," he whined.

Kagome ignored him as she packed up her school things. He continued to chatter as they walked down the hall. It was probably early enough that she could walk home on her own. But the belief that scary people only turned up at night wasn't true, she knew that. Maybe she'd wait for Inuyasha after all…

A clatter from a classroom interrupted her thoughts, and Natsuo. They looked at each other, blinking. Who else would still be at school so late?

Natsuo's smile disappeared as he stepped silently up to the door. Kagome followed his steps warily. She grasped her bag firmly, ready to use as a bludgeon if she had to. He slowly grasped the door handle and slid it open an inch.

"What the- Yuka?" Kagome exclaimed. In the room, Yuka looked up from where she squatted, collecting the large pile of chalk that had fallen and made the noise.

"Oh, hey Kagome!"

Kagome walked inside the room and knelt to help. "Yuka, why are you still here?"

Yuka shrugged and nodded at a desk, where her notebooks lay spread out. "I was just doing some homework before heading home. I concentrate better here." On the floor next to the desk was Yuka's school bag and a brown duffel that Kagome recognized from countless sleepovers.

"Yuka, is that a suitcase?"

Yuka glanced back at the duffel warily. Her expression hardened when she looked back into Kagome's eyes. "No, it's just extra track uniforms." She finished gathering up the chalk and walked back to its dispenser by the blackboard.

Kagome rose, hurt. "Are you lying? Are you planning to sleep at school?" Yuka didn't respond. She fiddled with the chalk dispenser, her back to Kagome.

"Yuka, tell me what's going on. This is what friends are for. Let me help you," Kagome said softly. "Whatever's going on, we can fix this-"

"What, like you tell me what's going on in your life?" Yuka snapped suddenly. Kagome's mouth clicked shut. "Because friends don't lie to friends, or keep secrets from them, right?"

Kagome blinked at her. Yuka Shimizu's unstoppable mouth was legendary in her class but she'd never turned her sharp tongue on her friends. Well, she had, but never with such anger.

Yuka sighed and turned around, rubbing her forehead. "Crap. I didn't- I'm sorry Kagome. I didn't mean to snap like that. I just-" she paused, taking a deep breath. "I just feel like we're _not_ friends anymore. You never talk about your life or being _sick,"_ this last word she said with exaggerated emphasis, and air quotes. "And when I call your house you never come to the phone- Kagome I had to literally _extort_ you into talking about your life! What the hell!"

"Oh Yuka," Kagome sighed. She stepped forward and pulled Yuka into a hug. Yuka's breath hitched.

Her arms rose to wrap tightly around Kagome's torso. "I miss you," Yuka mumbled tearfully into Kagome's neck. Her voice warbled and broke.

"I miss you too," Kagome murmured. She was starting to tear up too, like a baby that cried because another baby cried. Or maybe like a baby who was sad her friend was sad.

Kagome knew Yuka wouldn't cry while Natsuo was still there. So instead she held her friend as she collected herself, still hugging Kagome tightly. Deep breaths.

"Tell me what's really going on, Yuka," Kagome murmured. Whatever feelings Yuka had about her didn't explain why she was still at school.

Yuka snorted. "And they say _I'm_ stubborn." She paused, and then whispered. "I messed up. I did something really stupid."

"What?"

With her head still resting on Kagome's shoulder, Yuka wordlessly withdrew her black flip phone from her pocket and handed it to Kagome. Or rather, what was left of it.

"Uh oh," Kagome murmured. The phone was shattered, its black plastic casing barely holding in its electric guts. The hinges were totally broken, and the screen and the key pad were held together with wires.

"You know Eri's boyfriend has a motorcycle?" Yuka whispered. "Well…"

"You _didn't,"_ Kagome whispered in horror.

"Well I called him up last night and accidentally dropped my phone under the wheels, and then he accidentally drove over it a few times." Yuka picked her head up to look at the Leash. "Sturdy little bugger."

Kagome looked back at the duffel. Mr. Shimizu had to know by now that Yuka wasn't answering her phone; whether he knew _why_ his calls weren't going through, Kagome didn't know. But from what Yuka had told her, even that was enough to majorly piss him off. Yuka must have packed the suitcase the night before, or that morning, and was still too scared to go home.

"I think you should sleep over at my house tonight," Kagome said. "We can have a sleepover. Tell each other secrets."

Yuka laughed and squeezed her torso. "I'd like that."

It took some un-subtle nagging, but eventually Kagome got Natsuo to leave. He didn't seem as comfortable with her when Yuka was there, anyway. So like a dispirited limpet, he eventually separated from them and ran off into the night.

They sat together in front of foot locker hall, looking out into the cricket-filled courtyard. And while they waited for Inuyasha, Kagome told Yuka everything. She was tired of lying. Kagome couldn't even remember why she needed to keep her exploits a secret.

"You're messing with me," Yuka said dryly. "Time travel? Those crazy diseases are much more believable."

"It's true!" Kagome exclaimed. She lifted up her shirt to point to the ugly scar from her inaugural encounter with the past, and Mistress Centipede. "Look! This is where the Shikon Jewel came out of!"

Yuka raised an eyebrow, smirking. "A magical macguffin jewel came out of your body? C'mon Kagome. Still," she touched the white scar tentatively. "Yikes. That must have hurt."

Kagome told her about meeting Inuyasha, and shattering the jewel, and Naraku and Shippo and Sango and Miroku. As impossible as it sounded, Yuka found herself accepting it more than any disease the homeroom teacher had announced.

She was still regaling her with stories- Yuka loved hearing about Koga the most, unsurprisingly- when Inuyasha landed in the courtyard in front of them.

"Ah, here he is," Kagome said, and stopped short when she got a good look at him. He wasn't wearing his red kimono or his NC uniform. For the first time he was wearing the jeans she had bought him with a plain white tee shirt. He was even wearing shoes, simple black canvas sneakers that Kagome recognized from the storage boxes in her attic. With the black cap covering his ears, he looked like any modern youth...with golden eyes and long white hair.

"You!" Yuka gasped. She stood up and pointed. " _You're_ Inuyasha?"

"No, I'm the Prime Minister," he snarked back. He turned to Kagome and pointed at Yuka. "Who is that?"

"I'm right here! I can speak you know!"

"Inuyasha, this is Yuka." Kagome waved a lazy introduction. "She's my friend and she's sleeping over tonight. Yuka, Inuyasha."

"We've met, unfortunately." Yuka smiled at Inuyasha icily. Kagome shot him a glare. _Whatever you did wrong, fix it now!"_

Inuyasha looked bewildered as he looked back and forth between to two angry women. He threw up his arms. "What is it this time?"

"You said I smelled bad!" Yuka said. "Last time we met."

"No," Inuyasha said, jabbing his finger at Yuka even as he approached Kagome and took her book bag. "I said you smelled _weird_ , which you still do by the way, and it's different from _bad."_

Kagome sighed and dropped her face into her palm. "Inuyasha you can't _say_ that to girls…"

"It's true though!"

Yuka huffed and crossed her arms. "Weird how?"

Inuyasha turned and started walking out of the courtyard, Kagome close behind him. Yuka picked up her bags and followed. "I don't know, I can't describe it," Inuyasha groused. "Like… I don't know. It doesn't matter, no one else can smell it." He pointed at her brown duffel bag. "You want me to take that?"

"You should let him carry that," Kagome stage whispered. "He's really strong!"

Inuyasha looked forward and muttered a small keh. Yuka noticed how his ears twitched under his cap, and his cheeks were pink. Kagome noticed too, grinning. If something like that got him flustered, this boy must be starved for compliments.

"All right," Yuka said. Without looking he held his hand back and motioned for Yuka to give him the bag. She put the straps in his hand and, with a smile, socked him in the shoulder.

His head whirled around. "Wh-!"

"I changed my mind about you, Inuyasha." Yuka announced into the quiet evening. "You're alright."

Inuyasha blinked at her. He glanced at Kagome, who giggled helplessly into her hand. "Uh. Okay."

Inuyasha found that even if he was the butt of the joke, he didn't mind.

"Oh!" Kagome suddenly interrupted her laughter as she looked up into the sky. The moon was barely a white crack in the sky. "New moon tomorrow," she said. Inuyasha grunted.

Yuka looked between them. "Huh?"

Kagome shook her head. "It's nothing. "

Yuka elbowed Kagome gently. "I thought we weren't keeping secrets any more."

Kagome shrugged. "Not my secret to give away."

Yuka narrowed her eyes as she looked between Inuyasha and Kagome. "...Fine. I'll get it out of you eventually."

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome said. "We need to get Yuka to my room without my mom noticing- she's way too honest not to tell Mr. Shimizu that Yuka's here." She swung her arms mindlessly as she thought out loud. "Would it be better to put you in the guest room or my room? If my mom comes to wake me up in the morning...but the guest room is right next to Gramps's, and he'll blab in a heartbeat…" She clapped her hands decisively. "No, I think it's better if Yuka sleeps in my room. It's more fun that way anyway. Inuyasha, you'll have to get her in through the window. And you can sleep in the guest room tonight."

Yuka head swiveled slowly, inexorably, like a radar dish turning to follow its prime target, to stare at Kagome. Her eyes looked like circles. Wide, gleeful, predatory circles.

" _He sleeps in your room?!"_

Kagome face palmed. A full night with Yuka, and six months worth of minuscule interactions to dissect...it was gonna be a long night.

* * *

" _Uuugh,"_ Yuka moaned. "I forgot about the stairs!"

Kagome laughed as they trudged the hundreds of steps up the the shrine. "At least you're not carrying your suitcase."

Yuka looked up the hill. In a few bounds Inuyasha had disappeared from sight, leaving the girls in his dust.

"Yeah," Yuka said. "He really is fast. Because he's a…"

"Half-demon. Yep."

It was still hard for Yuka to wrap her head around. She didn't watch TV, even the modern dramas, because they weren't realistic enough. And now her friend was living a fantasy life?

"Still," Yuka grumbled. "He could have waited for us."

"Oh, he'll be back," Kagome assured her. She stretched her arms up and rested them behind her head, staring up at the hill. "He likes to check the well to see if Miroku and Sango have written back."

"The magic, time-traveling well."

"Right." Kagome nodded. "And Inuyasha's not exactly a big talker. Or maybe a small-talker, I guess? So it's not like he's interested in the small stuff back home. But talking to our friends back then…" she sighed, and looked around to see if Inuyasha was coming back. "He's pretty anxious about being stuck in this world. Hearing from them keeps him grounded, I guess."

Yuka cocked her head. "Anxious? I wouldn't have guessed."

Kagome made a small smile. "He hides it well."

They climbed the steps for a few more seconds before Yuka responded. "And what would you do?" She asked. "If you were trapped in the past?"

"Well, that's kind of what happened the first time I went!" Kagome laughed. "Or at least I thought that until I got pushed into the well again." She sobered, considering. "I'd miss my family and friends. But I've got friends back then too, so I'd be okay."

They climbed in silence for a few more seconds before Inuyasha landed in front of them. He didn't give either of the girls a chance to speak before shoving a folded-up notebook paper in Kagome's face. "You need to read this."

Kagome opened the paper and scanned it. Inuyasha fidgeted and flexed his claws impatiently as she read. She gasped and whispered "oh my god!"

"What? What is it?" Yuka craned her neck to try to read the letter.

"There's this little girl who's sick in the Feudal Era," Kagome explained as Inuyasha pushed her forwards, up the steps, with little mumbles of 'c'mon, cmon!'. "She got bitten by a- Inuyasha stop, I'm going! She got bitten by a rat demon, and it got infected, and now she's running a fever."

Yuka winced, rubbing her right hand nervously. She _hated_ rats. If there was a rat in her house, she'd burn it down.

By now they were jogging up the stairs. As they crested the hill, Yuka heard Kagome and Inuyasha talking quietly.

"But why didn't she tell us about this days ago?" Kagome asked. She and Inuyasha were moving faster than Yuka, and they were speaking forward, away from her. Yuka turned her head to listen better.

Inuyasha snorted. "Why do you think? It's her fault the kid got bit, it's not something she's gonna advertise."

"She should have told me! I could have sent back more antibacterial cream or fever reducers before it got bad."

Inuyasha huffed. "Well telling me isn't gonna do any good! But did you read the second part? About the Nurikabe?"

Yuka saw Kagome nod, a strange, fierce glint in her eyes. "Yeah," she said. "We'll handle that later." She led Yuka and Inuyasha around the back of the house. "Inuyasha, you take Yuka up to my room. I'm going to get some medical supplies." Inuyasha nodded and Kagome ran back to the front.

He knelt, holding his hands behind his back. "C'mon."

She stared at him. "What, like piggyback? Are you serious?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I mean, unless you were planning to climb up the wall yourself."

"Oh shut up," Yuka muttered, gingerly climbing onto his back. Before she could position herself he jumped, rising two stories to land on Kagome's two-inch bedroom window sill. Yuka shrieked involuntarily before snapping her mouth shut. This was supposed to be a secret sleepover, and screaming into the night tended to draw attention.

"Geeze, what is it with girls and screaming?" Inuyasha muttered.

"What is it with boys and-" Yuka began to retort back. But then Inuyasha moved his hands out from under her, so that she was help up by nothing but her own power. She yelped quietly, wrapped her arms and legs around him like a baby monkey, and tried not to look down.

"Hey!" she hissed. "You could have dropped me!"

With his hands free, Inuyasha opened the window and stepped down to the floor of Kagome's room. Yuka's suitcase and Kagome's bookbag rested on the floor. "But I didn't," he said. Yuka shakily dismounted.

"Now shut up and stay here," Inuyasha ordered. He left the room. Yuka stuck her tongue out at the door as he slammed it shut.

Mama was sitting on the couch when Kagome rushed through the door. She stood up as Kagome kicked off her shoes.

"Kagome, Mr. Shimizu called me an hour ago asking if I knew where Yuka is," Mama said, wringing her hands. "She didn't come home after school and he can't reach her on her cell phone. Do you have any idea where she could be?"

"No," Kagome lied, dodging around her mother. "But I'm sure she's fine. He's way too controlling anyway."

Mama followed her as she fluttered around the kitchen looking for a small bag to hold the medicines. "He's just worried about her. He worries about all his children," Mama said. "Oh lord, I hope she's alright. Maybe you and Inuyasha could go help search? Apparently the police won't help since she hasn't been missing long enough. Where is Inuyasha, anyway?"

Kagome slowed for an instant. She didn't know what it was like to have a child. She didn't know the fear of losing one. But she knew how she'd have felt if Yuka really was missing, and she didn't know where she was…

But motivations didn't justify behavior. Mr. Shimizu's fear ruled him, and his strangling control of his eldest daughter was exacting its price. And as bad as she felt for Mr. Shimizu, he wasn't her friend. Yuka was.

"I told him I'd call him back when you came home, if you knew anything," Mama went on.

"Sorry," Kagome said. "I don't." Then she'd found an appropriate bag and rushed to the bathroom. Inuyasha found her there digging through the medicine cabinet. "Neosporin, bacitracin," she muttered, glancing at each bottle before dropping it into the pouch. "I'm pretty sure I had all these in the first aid kit in my yellow backpack… We need something stronger." She picked up another bottle and read the label. "Ah ha!"

"What is it?" Inuyasha asked.

She held up the orange bottle triumphantly. "Amoxicillin. It's a prescription antibiotic. Sota got it when he got his tonsils taken out last year." She glared suspiciously at the pills in the bottle. "Mama _told_ him to take all of them. I guess he managed to skip a few doses…" There were six pills left. She stuffed the bottle in the pouch. Kagome muttered to herself as she continued to look through the medicine cabinet. "Take three times a day, that's only two days. So it'll either help and she'll finish getting better on her own, or it won't and the bacteria will just be resistant…" She heaved a great sigh. "Not like anyone else is going to be using antibiotics there for the next four hundred years."

"I have no idea what you're saying," Inuyasha said. Kagome waved a hand.

"Skip it," she said. She lifted the pouch. "Besides, I think I've got everything we can give them without getting a real doctor involved. Let's go."

As they walked to the well house, Inuyasha brought up his main concern. "But you saw what the second part said, right? If we can just get rid of that Nurikabe, we can go back and give them these ourselves!"

Kagome nodded, opening the wellhouse door. "Okay. So Sango said this girl- Sachi's- demon companion Benkikou sent a Nurikabe into the well, and somehow was able to send it through time," she reviewed. As she spoke she stepped up to the lip of the well. Inuyasha followed, picked her up, and jumped down. They landed in dirt, with the wooden roof far above them. Again. Inuyasha had jumped into the well at least three times a day since getting stranded here, and it had never worked. Kagome gently placed the pouch on the dirt floor.

"And obviously there's no demon here," Inuyasha said, sniffing the air.

"Could it have arrived here, blocked the well, and wandered away?" Kagome asked. She began climbing the ladder, but Inuyasha made no move to jump out. He sniffed the air some more.

"Not a chance," Inuyasha said. "Nurikabe have to be physically present to block anything. It has to be here, hiding somehow." He drew Tetsusaiga. "Which means all we have to do is kill it! _Wind S-"_

"SIT BOY!" Kagome screamed. Inuyasha fell with a _whump,_ Tetsusaiga transforming as it left his hand. "YOU'LL DESTROY THE WELL! WITH ME IN IT!"

There was a pause and then a muffled, "Oh, right," from the point six inches underground where Inuyasha's face was now located. He picked himself out of the soil and shook the dirt off. Kagome let out a long-suffering sigh and dropped her face into her hand.

Maybe Kagome could use her spiritual powers somehow to find the demon? She took a deep breath and concentrated ...Nope. Nothing. It looked like she was still only useful with a bow and arrow.

"Well there's nothing we can do now," Kagome admitted. She resumed climbing up the ladder. "So we may as well head back up."

Inuyasha's shoulders hunched. He reached out a hand and pressed it into the packed dirt wall. "You go up then," he muttered.

Kagome stopped climbing, tightening her lips as she turned back to look at him. Inuyasha would throw himself at a problem over and over again until he gave up hope. Even if there was never any progress, that would take a while. Kagome had tried the whole "persistence without results" style the first night the well was blocked, and that was enough for her. Just because they now knew what was blocking the well didn't mean they were any closer to getting rid of it.

But that wouldn't stop Inuyasha.

Kagome resumed climbing. "I'll save dinner for you," she said.

* * *

WEDNESDAY

Walking to school on Wednesday, Kagome could tell that Yuka was terrified. As they got closer her steps slowed. Her hand pressed on her stomach as if it pained her.

"You wanna stop?" Kagome asked. They were a block from the school gates.

Yuka shook her head angrily. "I'm not a coward," she snapped, and stomped forward. The school would definitely alert Mr. Shimizu as soon as she appeared. Kagome wished there was more she could do for her friend, but she couldn't hide her from her parents forever.

They called Yuka out of class an hour into the school day. She left, and returned twenty minutes later.

"What happened?" Kagome leaned forward and whispered. Yuka waved her hand, not turning around. She didn't get called from class again and at lunchtime filled in Eri and Ayumi on the night before.

"Oh my god," Eri gasped. "I got worried last night, because your dad called my house too."

"Same," said Ayumi.

"God," growled Yuka, rolling her eyes. She snagged another sausage from Kagome's jumbo bento.

"I mean, I'd do the same thing if my child was missing," Ayumi shrugged. Yuka humphed.

At the end of the school day when everyone else was packing up their bags, Yuka sat still at her desk. Kagome went up to her to rub her shoulder.

"You gonna go home tonight?" Kagome asked.

Yuka sighed and lowered her head to the desk. "Yeah," she sighed out. "I guess I've got to eventually." Kagome continued to rub her shoulder, wishing she could do more to help her friend.

* * *

"I'm not going to be coming to tutoring tomorrow," Natsuo announced. "But I'll see you at the party, right?"

Natsuo gathered up his papers and shoved them carelessly in his book bag. When Kagome didn't answer immediately, intent on putting her own notebooks away, he asked again. "Right? You're still coming, right?" He rested his face on the desk so he could look up into Kagome's.

"I...yeah, I think so," Kagome said slowly. What with Sango's letter and gaining info on the well, not to mention Yuka's family drama, she'd completely forgotten about her little student's party. "Yeah, we'll be there. Probably." Unless they somehow found the Nurikabe and eliminated it before then.

"We?" Natsuo's smile fell, to be replaced with a look of disgust. "Oh. The bouncer." He brightened up again. "Unless you mean your friends from school? Cuz they're welcome to come too."

"His name is _Inuyasha,"_ Kagome corrected. She tapped him firmly on the shoulder. "And I expect you to behave like an adult. Because I'm bringing him. _And_ my friends from school, hopefully."

Natsuo pouted but didn't say anything until they started walking down the hall. "I guess he's picking you up again tonight, huh?"

"That's right. Oh, wait." Kagome stopped outside her normal classroom. She slid the door open and peeked in. "Yuka?"

Yuka was still there, head resting on her desk, in her track uniform. She shot up at the sound of Kagome's voice.

"You are going home tonight, aren't you?" Kagome asked.

"No yeah, yeah," Yuka said. "Yeah. I am." But she didn't stand up from the desk.

"Do you want to walk with Inuyasha and me?" Kagome asked. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Natsuo stick out his tongue.

"No, I'll go home a bit later," Yuka said. "Thanks Kagome. But for now I think I want to be alone."

"It's really not safe to walk alone at night, Yuka."

Yuka smiled with a veneer of patience. "I'll be fine, love." She rested her head back down on the desk: a clear end of the conversation. Kagome didn't want to leave her, but it wasn't like she could force her. She stood at the door anxiously for a few seconds before deciding. Unlike Kagome, Yuka had no association with boys like Natsuo or Inuyasha, who pulled trouble to them like magnets. Kagome had always felt safe by herself at night in the past. There was no reason for Yuka to get into trouble.

"I'll see you tomorrow. I love you," Kagome said quietly.

"Love you too," Yuka said into the desk.

* * *

Natsuo left quickly, before Inuyasha could arrive. Kagome sat on the stoop of the locker room, waiting. She shivered. It was particularly cold tonight; occasional snowflakes drifted down to earth. She waited for Inuyasha to come as the sun finished setting, until it was dark enough for the streetlamps to come on. They illuminated the moonless night with a stark, yellow glow.

Eventually, movement in the black shadow caught her attention. Inuyasha walked into view. His black hair shone in the yellow light. He was wearing jeans and a shirt again, and shoes and a windbreaker tonight to protect his tender human skin. He held Tetsusaiga slung over his shoulder. His expression, when he caught her gaze, was as serious as it always was.

Kagome's heart lurched when she looked into his brown eyes, then hit the gas and began pounding rapidly. Her stomach seemed to tense, squirming and fluttering. _What?_ She took a few gulps of air to get oxygen to her frantic organs.

"Sorry I'm late," he said as he approached. "I forget how slowly humans walk."

"No-" Kagome began breathlessly. She inhaled firmly and continued. "No problem. I figured."

He reached for her bag and Kagome pulled it away, grinning. "You sure you can handle it?" She asked. "Since you're such a weak human, and all?" He gave her a dirty look and snatched the bag before she could pull it away. Kagome giggled and they walked out.

"Man I hate this!" Inuyasha complained as they walked. "I'm deaf and blind out here-" he looked around, squinting. "Well, at night at least. Colors look kind of different when I'm human. But I can't smell a damn thing!"

Kagome began to speak. "But somehow we-"

Inuyasha whirled around to stare at something across the street. "What was that?"

"What was what? I didn't see anything."

Inuyasha slid Testsusaiga's sheath through a belt loop and gripped the hilt. He glared at the black shadows of the alley across the street. Heart pounding, Kagome stepped forward to try to see through the darkness. There was nothing.

"Keh," Inuyasha muttered. "Jumping at shad- _AARGH!"_

Kagome screamed and leaped back as Inuyasha was thrown back from the blow of a baseball bat. The man wielding it had lunged out from an alley behind them. Four more men poured out of the alley, one more of them with a baseball bat. They converged on Inuyasha.

"Bring him in!" The first thug roared. He jerked his head back at the alley.

Inuyasha swung gamely at one of the man, his jab parried by the man's arm. The man responded by throwing another punch, while his buddy swung the bat. Inuyasha shouted in pain. Without his usual wide sleeves, Kagome could see that the point of impact was already swelling.

"Hey!" Kagome shouted. She jumped on the attacker's back closest to her and wrapped her arm around his neck. "Stop it!" She screamed in his ear, hitting him anywhere her other flailing fist could reach. The man irritably threw her off and pushed her to the ground. Trembling, Kagome picked herself up to do it again.

To her horror, two more men ran out of the alley at them. "Take care of her!" Growled the man Kagome had jumped on, gesturing to her.

As one of the men grabbed Kagome's wrists and dragged her, screaming, into the alley, more tried to do the same with Inuyasha. He struggled and kicked in the tight circle around him, occasionally catching someone in a soft spot with a fist or foot. Grunting and growling, the men managed to grab each of his flailing limbs and dragged him back into the alley. Kagome was forced to follow, screaming and kicking.

"What the hell?" One thug asked, grabbing Tetsusaiga between Inuyasha's thrashing and pulling the sheath out of his belt loop. He drew the rusty sword.

"Quit playing!" Snapped one of his buddies. The thug shrugged and threw the fang and sheath down at the mouth of the alley.

There was one more man waiting in the alley, barely visible without the lamp light. As one man forced Kagome still in a tight bear hug while another roughly covered her mouth with his hand, and two men held Inuyasha by his arms, the man in the alley stalked forward.

"So you're the trash who hurt my boys," he rumbled. His voice was deep and rough, scratched up by years of chain-smoking. He was older than the rest of the thugs- forty years old at least. It was his eyes that chilled Kagome the most. She had looked into demon's eyes with more humanity in them. He looked Inuyasha over coolly. "Don't seem too tough now."

Inuyasha panted hoarsely, glaring at the man.

"My man Ryosuke just was minding his own business when you came and roughed him up for no reason," the man drawled, going closer. "That's something we frown upon, 'round here."

"Obviously not rough enough, since he didn't seem to get the message," Inuyasha spat, jerking against the hands restraining him. The man tilted his head, contemplating. He calmly pulled out a set of brass knuckles from his pockets and put them on.

" _NO!"_ Kagome shrieked as the man drew back and punch Inuyasha _hard_ in the abdomen. She strained against the arms of her captor, wriggling and kicking at his calves to no effect. Inuyasha wheezed and crumpled around the fist, held up by the men holding his arms. His knees buckled. As he retched onto the ground the man with the brass knuckles calmly drew his fist back and watched.

"Go to...hell…" Inuyasha gasped when he finally caught his breath. The man responded by punching him again, this time in the face. The brass knuckles split the skin around Inuyasha's cheek bones making a wide, ugly gash. Inuyasha grunted in pain.

"Stop, please," Kagome sobbed. She stopped struggling, limp. "Please…"

The man with the brass knuckles glanced at her as he languidly withdrew a cigarette and lighter from his breast pocket. "That's the girl Ryo-chii was talking about, right?" He asked one of the men holding up Inuyasha. The man nodded.

"Hmm." Knuckles took a puff from his cigarette. With his other hand he pulled out a cell phone from his pocket, smaller and sleeker than Yuka's leash. He approached Kagome.

"I'd rather not hurt a girl, even if you did sic your friend here on my boys," Knuckles said, sparing a quick glance back at Inuyasha. "So we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I'm going to call your little boyfriend now, and you're going to-"

"No," Kagome sniffled. She was calm despite her tears.

Knuckles raised his eyebrows. "What did you say?"

"No," she said again. "I don't know what you want with Natsuo Morikawa or how you think you can use me to get it, but I won't do it. Whatever it is."

Knuckles turned around and motioned to one of the guys who at this point were just standing around. The guy pulled back his fist and slammed it into Inuyasha's face, even as Kagome screamed " _STOP IT!"_

"Easy way or the hard way," Knuckles said. He took a drag from the cigarette.

Kagome, trembling, blinked tears down her cheeks. She glared into Knuckles' eyes and with a shaky voice hissed, "No."

Knuckles sighed and shook his head. He flipped open the phone and dialed a number into it. Kagome glanced nervously between the phone and the man until a _click_ sounded and familiar voice said, "Hello?"

Knuckles slapped Kagome across the face. She cried out involuntarily. Inuyasha shouted and strained helplessly against the men holding his arms. "Kagome!"

"Wh- Kagome?!" Natsuo's voice came back as a worried shout over the phone. "Who is this? You leave Kagome the fuck out of this, you piece of-"

"It's Ki," Knuckles -Ki, apparently- said into the phone. "I won't ask you again, Junior. Miss Kagome," he shot her a glance as he said her name, his eyes unfeeling, "will be my guest until you bring me what I asked for tomorrow night. And if you don't, she'll be my guest for a lot longer than that."

He hung up on Natsuo's shouts. "Let's go," he said, jerking his head at the two holding Kagome. He turned around to order the men holding Inuyasha, "Once we're gone, knock him out and dump him as far away as a cab will take him."

As the men tried to drag Kagome away and she started to struggle against her captor, Inuyasha snarled, " _No!"_ He managed to pull himself out of the arms of one of the men. With his free arm he elbowed him in the face. The man reeled back as his broken nose began to gush with blood.

Ki was starting to look angry. "You just won't quit," he muttered darkly. He raised a fist- _no, not again!_ thought Kagome- and took two steps-

"HEY!"

The violence paused. All heads turned to look to the mouth of the alley. The silhouette of a girl in a school uniform stood dark against the light of the street lamps. She lifted a trembling fist, something small and indiscernible clutched inside it.

"I just called the police, I've got a cell phone!" Yuka shouted. "They're on their way now."

The thugs looked to Ki in concern. He narrowed his eyes but motioned for the men holding Kagome to continue with their task. "Doesn't matter," he said quietly. "We'll be gone by the time those-"

"I know about you, Ki," Yuka shouted. "And what you're planning with Morikawa, and I'm telling the police _everyth-"_

"Get her!" Ki snarled. He and four others raced towards the mouth of the alley. Yuka made a small _eep!_ and turned and ran. The only enemies left in the alley were the one holding Kagome and the two who had been holding Inuyasha. Inuyasha had used Yuka's distraction to throat-punch the other man holding him and take out Bloody Nose more permanently. Both were now moaning on the ground. Inuyasha stood panting, leaning over to hold his abdomen. He glared fiercely at the man who still held Kagome.

The one holding Kagome dropped her, gaze darting from his fallen comrades to Inuyasha. "Shit!" he said, and ran out of the alley.

Inuyasha stumbled over to Kagome as she lurched towards him. He managed to gasp out, "Are you…"

'I'm fine, I'm fine," she reassured him. "You're not."

"'M fine," he grunted. "Had worse."

It was true. Inuyasha had had so many holes skewered in him she could have used him to drain pasta. But never while he'd been human.

"We need to get out of here," she said. She ducked her head under Inuyasha's arm to support him and started to walk/drag him to the alley. "We can go to the school building."

Inuyasha hissed in pain as Kagome's steps forced him to move and unbend. "I'm fine," he snapped at her concerned look.

They made it just a few feet outside the alley before the sound of footsteps from behind made Kagome turn around. The two men Inuyasha had taken down ran out...and ran the other way. Phew.

As they limped back to the school, Kagome found that she wasn't scared. Her hands were shaking from adrenaline, not terror. Inuyasha getting beat up by normal humans, who didn't even use knives or guns? It didn't even feel real. She wasn't afraid for herself.

But Yuka… for Yuka it was real. And for Yuka Kagome was afraid.

* * *

Yuka hadn't thought. She'd watched from outside the alley, paralyzed with fear, until they almost took Kagome away. Somehow that had broken the spell. And in typical Yuka fashion, once she started talking she couldn't stop.

She didn't know anything about that guy except for what she'd eavesdropped, but she sure had his attention. So when they chased her, Yuka ran faster than she'd ever run. She turned corners and alleyways and jumped fences until she turned around and realized no one was following her.

Huh. For such angry dudes they were pretty slow.

Yuka slowed to a stop and panted for air as she looked around. She was on a street a few blocks from school, not far from the WacDonalds the girls went to after school. She tiptoed her way back to scene of the beat down, sticking to the shadows and keeping an eye out for the guys who'd been chasing her. She felt not terrified but exhilarated. Those slowpokes? She could outrun them any day.

When she got back to the alley there was no one there. Well, the guy those men had been beating up didn't look like he'd be able to walk very far. Who was he, anyway? His voice had sounded familiar...

Yuka headed for the school at a quick pace, heart racing. What if they'd taken Kagome away after all? What if her distraction, her bluff, hadn't been enough? She slammed through the front doors, past the shoe lockers without pause. _Please, please be here._ The halls were mostly dark, illuminated by regular columns of street-lamp light from the windows.

Yuka raced through the hallways, looking through the door windows into the empty classrooms. "Kagome?" she whispered as loudly as she dared. Nothing in the cafeteria. _Maybe..._ she ran to the nurse's office.

Kagome whirled around, a frantic look in her eye, when Yuka yanked the door open. She visibly deflated when she saw who it was. "Oh thank goodness you're all right," she breathed. Yuka slid the door shut behind her.

"That's my line," Yuka said. Kagome was standing next to a cot. Her body blocked Yuka from seeing all but the still legs of whoever lay on it. "Oh shit," she whispered as she came forward. "Who is that?"

His face was red and swollen to the point of deformation, one eye almost sealed shut. His left cheek was split open, oozing blood down his face to drip onto the paper covering the cot. His lips and nose were crusty with dried blood, but they'd mostly stopped bleeding by now.

At the sound of Yuka's voice his functioning eye fluttered open to glare. It was a dark brown color, with red sclera from the broken blood vessels. At the same time Kagome was saying "What do you- Oh. It's Inuyasha. He's just looks a little different right now."

Yuka gaped at her, then back at him. "He's...okay, fine. He's human. No weirder than him being half demon…" She turned back to Inuyasha. "You don't look so hot, buddy."

Inuyasha was about to retort something when he suddenly leaned over the side of the cot and vomited bloody sick onto the floor. Yuka and Kagome jumped back with a gasp. Inuyasha inhaled sharply and heaved again, but this time nothing came out but the sickening sound of his stomach trying to climb up his esophagus.

"Okay, you need to go to the hospital!" Yuka squeaked.

"I'm _fine,"_ Inuyasha panted. He tensed suddenly and let out a small groan as a wave of pain hit him.

"Yeah, obviously he's not fine," Kagome said. "But he really will be as soon as the sun rises."

"Okay but that's gonna take forever!" Yuka exclaimed. "He could totally die in the meantime! What if he got a ruptured spleen, or an epidural hematoma, or a kidney laceration? My mom said those can kill you."

"What are those?" Kagome asked.

Yuka shrugged. "Not sure, but apparently they can kill you. They're why my dad didn't let me join the softball club."

Her mother, a nurse, had once told her father about how a child had died from a baseball to the chest. The blow to his heart had messed up its electrical conduction and sent it into ventricular fibrillation: a rapid, inadequate, and deadly rhythm. Yuka didn't know how long the whole story took, but it must have happened after the kid got to the hospital, right? She didn't know how long it had been since Inuyasha had gotten the tar beat out of him, but just because he wasn't dead yet didn't mean he wouldn't be soon.

"No hospital," Inuyasha gasped. "Hell'll break loose at dawn. Literally." Kagome nodded agreement, making little triangle shapes with her fingers on top of her head.

"Who cares if you grow dog ears?" Yuka snapped. "It's that or die before it happens."

"The Bureau," Inuyasha ground out, "would finish the job. It can't go public."

Out of the corner of her eye, Yuka suddenly noticed the open door to the nurse's private office. "Fine. No hospital. Can I take you home, at least? My mom's a nurse."

"...Fine." Inuyasha muttered. He shut his eyes again. Kagome fluttered her hands, at a loss, until they settled upon stroking Inuyasha's hair. Yuka went into the nurse's office where- _Yes!-_ there was a phone on the desk. She took two deep breaths to steady herself, picked up the receiver, and called home.

* * *

When the ugly car pulled up in front of the school's courtyard, only Yuka noticed. Kagome was busy trying to make Inuyasha comfortable on the stoop of the locker room, and Inuyasha was, obviously, not at his most observant. Yuka could barely see it, between the dark and the distance. But she knew the sound of her father's old lemon like the sound of his voice.

"My dad's here," Yuka said. "Is...he okay? Do you think we could carry him?"

"I'm fine," Inuyasha repeated, gritting his teeth from the pain of speaking.

Yuka rolled her eyes. "Sure you are."

Inuyasha pushed her away when she tried to help him walk, allowing only Kagome to drape his arm around her shoulders. Yuka could do nothing but slowly shuffle along at the boy's injured pace.

A man came out of the car and ran towards them, not even shutting the door. He grabbed Yuka's shoulders when he drew near. "Yuka, are you alright!?"

Yuka shrugged out of his grip irritably. " _I'm_ fine, Dad," she said. "Can't you drive the car closer, like into the courtyard?"

The man turned his attention to Inuyasha and Kagome. His eyes widened at the sight of Inuyasha's bloody face. He took a step back. "Uh, yes," he said. "I'll do what I can." He jogged back to the car and brought it as close as he could to the gate.

He, Kagome, and Yuka worked together to maneuver Inuyasha across the back seats. Her father said nothing, but his wide eyes swung back and forth between Inuyasha and Yuka, and they promised a conversation, later.

The car pulled up to the Shimizu household and Mrs. Shimizu trotted out. Yuka and Kagome helped Inuyasha out of the car.

"Oh Lord," Mrs. Shimizu said, looking at Inuyasha. "Oh, Yuka."

"What's with you guys? _I'm_ not the one who needs medical attention!" Yuka snapped. They brought Inuyasha into the house, where Mrs. Shimizu had him lie down on the couch. He grimaced as he unfolded onto it.

"Honoka, get my stethoscope and the pen light from my desk," Mrs. Shimizu commanded in the general direction of where Yuka's sisters peeked through the doorway. She turned to Yuka and hissed quietly. "Yuka, what is going on? That boy needs to go to a hospital, not a friend's house."

"I told you over the phone, he can't," Yuka muttered back. "Or he won't, unless there's something life threatening."

Honoka came down the stairs with the supplies Mrs. Shimizu had requested. The woman growled through her teeth and gave Yuka a hard look but turned back to the couch. Inuyasha lay back with his eyes closed. He opened the working one as Mrs. Shimizu approached.

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked him, shining the pen light in his eyes, forcing the swollen one open. Inuyasha winced and stumbled through the story, his words slurring.

"And then they grabbed Kagome and I, um." Inuyasha said. His eye slid closed. "I. I um. Used Wind Scar…"

"That's not what happened," Kagome said as Mrs. Shimizu asked, "used what?"

"Do you know what city this is?" Mrs. Shimizu asked. "Here, I need you to take off your shirt."

"I don't remember," mumbled Inuyasha. He resisted a little as Kagome pushed his T-shirt up. Mrs. Shimizu raised her eyebrows at the calico pattern of bruises.

"Do you know what year it is?"

"I _do_ know that," Inuyasha said as Mrs. Shimizu felt his chest. "Kimiko told me. It's…. Um."

"Does it hurt to breathe?"

"Yeah, a little."

Kagome gaped. Mrs. Shimizu proceeded to feel Inuyasha's chest and abdomen, listen to his heart and lungs, and examine his urine. He stumbled, getting up to go to the bathroom, but seemed coherent enough to knock away Kagome's attempts to help.

"It feels like he's got a broken rib," Mrs. Shimizu said to Kagome when she finished. Inuyasha again lay on the couch with his eyes closed. "He'll need stitches for his face. But he seems to have avoided any major kidney or spleen injuries, and he's lucky that rib didn't collapse his lung."

Kagome nodded as Mrs. Shimizu spoke, hands covering her mouth. "Okay, good."

"Based on how is pupils are reacting and the fact that he's conscious there doesn't seem to be any bleeding in his brain," Mrs. Shimizu went on. "But he's definitely got a concussion, and I'm not happy with how sleepy he looks. I'd feel a lot better if he got a CT scan. But he'll be alright."

Kagome should have known he'd be okay. Inuyasha always made it out, and out of way tougher battles than this. He was okay. He'd be okay. She kept nodding, her breath hitching. "Okay. Okay."

Mrs. Shimizu pulled Kagome into a hug, rubbing her back and shushing softly. Kagome gasped into her shirt and Yuka came up from behind to hug her back.

"Everyone's gonna be alright," Yuka said. "You're all gonna be alright."

* * *

Mrs. Ryuko Shimizu scrubbed angrily at the baked-in chicken grease on the pan. Kagome had said that she would stay up to watch over her friend, but Ryuko couldn't just leave that kind of job to a fifteen year old. Even if she hadn't been a medical professional, she was a mom. And when your fifteen year old daughter brings home a boy beaten so badly he can't open one eye, you don't just examine him and go to sleep. So it would be Ryuko staying up to make sure the boy's drowsiness wasn't actually an epidural hematoma, and Ryuko driving him to the hospital when he finally realized that gash on his face would need stitches. All before a twelve hour shift starting at 6:00 AM. And she needed to call Mrs. Higurashi to tell her that Kagome was sleeping over, and she needed to make lunches for the kids, and Ichika's class had a bake sale that she'd promised to make blondies for, and, and... Ryuko's sponge scraped the pan harder. _Out, damn spot!_

"Just use the scraper, that's what it's for," her husband suggested. He was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper.

"I told you," Ryuko growled, "I don't want to use the scraper. It takes off the non-stick coating."

"Isn't that already a lost c-"

Mr. Shimizu was interrupted when the kitchen door opened and Yuka took half a step in. She glanced between her parents and backed out, moving to shut the door.

"Yuka, wait!" Ryuko called. She dropped her pan zipped across the room to grab hold of her daughter's wrist. Yuka jerked her hand out of her mother's soapy hold with irritation.

"Yuka, this can't go on," Ryuko said. "You have to talk to us."

"I am talking to you," Yuka growled. She shot a glance at her father, who stared tensely back from the kitchen table.

"You know what I mean. You need to talk to your father." Not words Ryuko would ever have thought she'd need to say.

Mr. Shimizu smoothed out the paper on the table. Yuka folded her arms and looked aside. Neither said anything.

Ryuko sighed. "Fine. I'll start. Sit down."

She and Yuka sat at the table, Yuka still refusing to look at her father.

"Yuka, you know you terrified us last night," Ryuko said. "I can honestly say- and I think I speak for both of us- that last night was one of the most terrifying nights of our lives. We didn't know what happened to you. You could have been kidnapped. Dead."

Yuka said nothing. Her crossed arms tightened, and she continued to glare at the corner of the table.

"Your mother and I..." Mr. Shimizu began. Ryuko squeezed his hand encouragingly. "We had a talk. We don't want this to happen again."

"Oh what, so you're going to ground me again? More?" Yuka exclaimed. The dam had burst. "Are you going to chain me to my room so I can't even go to sch-"

"-Yuka, let him speak."

"-ool? Okay I know I screwed up but you can't just take away my _life,_ my freedom-"

"Yuka, listen to me!"

"-do you know how fucking much I hate living here? Being in this h-"

"YUKA SHIMIZU, SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND LISTEN TO ME!" Mr. Shimizu roared, standing up in his chair and banging his hand on the table.

She didn't, of course. Yuka stood up in response. "-ouse, I'm gonna explode! I can't live like this!"

"WE KNOW THAT, AND THAT'S WHY YOU'RE NOT GROUNDED!"

Yuka paused, her next words dying on her open lips. Her parents shared a look. Ryuko nodded at her husband. _It needs to be you to tell her._

"You're growing up, and one day you're going to head out on your own," Mr. Shimizu said. "We don't want you to do that any earlier than you have to. Because when you move out, we want you to be as ready as possible, knowing your family loves you and is behind you every step of the way."

Yuka opened her mouth. "So are you just-"

Ryuko slapped a hand on the table. " _Let him finish,"_ she growled. Yuka blinked at her mother and shut her mouth.

"And we don't want you to feel forced out," her father went on. "That you're so miserable that you have to choose between us and being happy. We want you to be happy here. So if the choice is between us giving you more freedom here and you running away, of course we're going to give you more freedom here.

"So here are the conditions. We're going to get you a new cell phone, and if I call you have to answer and tell me where you are."

Yuka, whose eyes had been opening up in wonder, narrowed again. "So exactly like bef-"

" _Hush,_ child," Ryuko said. "I said to let him finish."

"You tell us where you are, but you don't have to come home. You can go out after school for as long as you want, as long as you're home or at Eri, Ayumi, or Kagome's house by eleven."

Yuka gaped. "I don't- you're saying I can sleep at a friend's house on a school night?"

"A _female_ friend's house," Ryuko clarified, glancing at the door, beyond which were Inuyasha and Kagome. In separate rooms, of course.

"And I can go anywhere I want as long as I tell you?"

"Well not _any-"_ Yuka's father began, before Ryuko squeezed his hand silent.

"We're trusting you to use your judgement not to do anything stupid, or you'll lose that privilege," she said.

Yuka's jaw bobbed up and down. "I...I don't know what to say."

"'Thank you,' and 'I'm sorry,' might be a good start," Ryuko said. "For scaring your parents like that. But also 'apology accepted.' Because we're sorry that it came to this."

"You're... you're not angry that I broke the Leash?"

"Oh, I'm furious about that," Mr. Shimizu said, sitting down. "And that you ran away. But that anger is nothing compared to the fear I felt last night. And that fear is nothing..." his voice wavered. When he spoke again, it broke. "Nothing compared to the relief I felt when the school called me this morning. That you were alright. I'm so glad you're safe, Yuka." He blinked back tears.

"I'm...I'm sorry," Yuka whispered.

Ryuko was tearing up too. "So are we," she warbled. "Now stand up and give your father a hug."

They stood. They hugged. By the end even Yuka was crying. And for the first time in years, she felt like there was nothing she needed to say.

* * *

OMAKE:

Ryuko Shimizu shot upright in her bed. "What did we just do?"

"?" grunted her husband.

"We just gave Yuka freedom to sleep out," Ryuko said, "on the very same night she brought a half-dead stranger home!"

There was a moment's contemplation. "...Shit," said Mr. Shimizu.

"Why did we do that?" Ryuko whispered. She fell back down on her pillow.

"Give her three days to lose that privelege," Mr. Shimizu mumbled.

"Oh." Ryuko brightened considerably. "That's true. And how much trouble do you think she could get up to in three days?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to a party. Yuka discovers an old skill. Kagome gives in to impulse. Inuyasha calls in a debt. 
> 
> The story ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so sorry for the completely unjustified delay. In penance, I am posting this FINAL chapter as a two chapter combo, 17,000 words!  
> Important note: I wrote this fic because I wanted to have fun! So if it bothers you that the characters are drinking and dancing and having fun when there are important plot things happening, remember that the plot is secondary.  
> With that, enjoy!

The sun rose, and Inuyasha rose with it. When he sat up, he ran his claws through his white, blood-clumped hair and breathed. He could smell everything now, and his vision had sharpened even as the colors dulled. His rib wasn't fully healed, but the pain no longer hounded him. The injury would be a memory in a day or two. The slight sound of his movement woke Kagome, who had fallen asleep at the writing desk next to his bed.

"You should have gone to bed," he said quietly. Kagome rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah well," she mumbled back, slurring with sleep, "I was worried about you. So shut up."

"I would have been fine."

"How do you feel?" Kagome asked with a yawn. She got up on one foot, trying to hop feeling into the leg that had gone numb.

"Fine," Inuyasha said. "Pissed."

Kagome stretched, setting off snaps from her like bubble wrap. "Yeah. Me too."

Inuyasha flexed his claws. It wasn't that he was so ashamed of losing (though he was, to humans.) It was the feeling of helplessness, of watching impotently as they began to drag Kagome away. The casual orders, the practiced teamwork. Inuyasha and Kagome had not been Ki's first victims.

"I'm gonna kill him," Inuyasha whispered, the rasp of a growl in his throat.

"You can't," Kagome said.

"He's a monster."

"He's a person," Kagome insisted. "Even if he's an evil one." Inuyasha wasn't so sure.

"Aaanyway," Kagome yawned, "Kill him or not, we need to find him and stop him."

Inuyasha blinked. "Stop what? He didn't get you."

Kagome sat down on the bed next to Inuyasha and put a hand on his arm. "Thanks to you."

Inuyasha's face heated. He shrugged her hand off with an embarrassed ' _keh!'_ and looked away. "Thanks to Yuka, you mean."

"Thanks to both of you," Kagome said. "But the _reason_ that guy was trying to take me away was to use me against Natsuo, for something. He said…" she looked up, tapping her chin as she tried to remember. "Something about Natsuo bringing him something. I'll see if I can get information on Ki from him at school today. And then we'll find him, and then-"

"And then we'll kill him," Inuyasha nodded. Kagome smacked his arm and he grinned. (He wasn't totally joking.)

"Oh," Kagome said, her face falling. "He said he wouldn't be coming to tutoring today. Shoot, that probably means he won't be in school at all." She got up and started pacing. "I should have asked for his phone number after all, but I didn't want him to get the wrong idea…."

Inuyasha took a deep breath. His rib hurt less already. "Hey. Kagome. Don't worry."

"Hmm?"

He looked at her, and his golden eyes shone a promise. "We're going to find this guy. And we're going to kick his ass. I swear it."

* * *

Mrs. Shimizu was gone by the time Inuyasha was a hanyo again, though he told Kagome she'd woken him a few times in the night to make sure he _could_ wake up. When Yuka took them downstairs for breakfast, her father visibly startled at Inuyasha's dog ears, white hair, and (mostly) healed face.

"If I told the truth, you wouldn't believe me," Yuka said.

Her father said, still looking askance at Inuyasha, "Try me."

Yuka looked at Inuyasha, who shrugged his assent. "He's a half demon from five hundred years in the past, which is where Kagome disappears to when she tells everyone she's sick, and he turns into a human every new moon."

Mr. Shimizu looked from his daughter to Inuyasha to Kagome, searching for joke. "That's not the truth."

Inuyasha, scooping rice into his bowl, twitched his ears. "You got a better explanation then, old man?"

After breakfast, Inuyasha insisted on accompanying Kagome to school. As Mr. Shimizu gathered up Yuka's little sisters, Inuyasha and Kagome argued quietly.

"That's two times you were in danger 'cuz I wasn't there, or I was a weak-ass human," he snapped. "I'm coming with you."

Kagome took a deep breath and steepled her fingers over her face. "Inuyasha…"

"Besides," he said. "Didn't you say you weren't ashamed of me?"

"I did, and I meant it…" she said. "But…"

"But what? Or were you just talkin' big?"

Kagome pressed her hands together and gestured at Inuyasha. "You're _really_ gonna have to change clothes first."

Inuyasha looked down at his ripped t-shirt, formerly white, now blotched brown and crusty with dried blood. His left shoulder was impressively stiff with all the blood that had come from his split cheek. There were even a few drops here and there on his jeans. "What? Why? I thought you wanted me to wear this stuff."

"Yeah, not when it's covered in dried gore!"

Inuyasha threw his arms up. "What, do people not have blood in the future?!"

"We do, but we tend to keep it _inside_ our _bodies!_ "

"You kinda look like a psycho axe-murderer," Yuka agreed around a mouthful of chopsticks. She finished her breakfast, standing up to gather the bowls on the table and drop them in the kitchen sink.

Inuyasha looked down at his clothing. He _tch_ 'ed, folding his arms.

"Fine," he said. "I'll go home. But if you go and get yourself attacked again…"

Kagome clapped her hands together and bowed. "I promise to stay out of trouble, Mr. Kettle."

"What?"

"Forget it. Just pick me up at 3:00 and then we'll go to the party."

Yuka's ears perked up. "Party?"

Kagome and Inuyasha side-eyed each other. They'd been discussing a plan to get to Ki, but neither wanted to get Yuka involved.

"You mean the one Morikawa was asking you to?" Yuka continued.

"Yeah," Kagome said. "The one you said was too dangerous?"

"I did say that," Yuka smirked. "But that was when I was young and foolish, and hadn't _easily_ outrun a bunch of murderous crim-"

She clammed up as Mr. Shimizu entered the kitchen. He jingled his keys at the three teenagers as behind him, Ichika and Honoka got their shoes on. "Alright, time to go!"

As the three of them got their shoes and bags, Yuka announced, "Hey Dad, Kagome's friend is throwing a party tonight."

Mr. Shimizu eyed her warily. "I was thinking of going," Yuka continued loudly. "Is that alright?"

Kagome gasped, eyes pinging back and forth from the two Shimizus. Yuka's brows were raised as she stared into her father's eyes. A challenge. Her father looked like he'd bitten into a vinegared lemon.

"If you are home by 11:00, don't do anything stupid, and there is no alcohol involved," Mr. Shimizu slowly ground out. "Then I won't forbid it."

Yuka beamed in victory. She turned her smug smile on Kagome as they walked out to the car. "We had a talk," Yuka told her, sotto voce. "I don't know how long this freedom'll last so I'm gonna take full advantage in the meantime."

"I think if you milk it like this it won't last long at all," Kagome whispered back.

Inuyasha walked them out to the car. "You better take care of her," he ordered Yuka, nodding towards Kagome. Yuka sputtered at him as he jumped onto the roof. Her father and sisters gaped wordlessly.

"What do you expect _me_ to do?" Yuka shouted up at him.

Inuyasha paused and turned around. "I don't know, draw them off again!" he shouted down.

"But then _I'll_ be in trouble!"

Inuyasha smirked as he peeked his head over the roof. "Yeah, but I don't care as much about you," he said, and jumped out of sight.

"Asshole," Yuka muttered, grinning, as she got into the car. Kagome was already inside, hiding her face in her hands.

"I see what you were talking about, all those times," Yuka told her. "But I get why you like him."

* * *

Kagome was jittery throughout the day, a disastrous combination of not enough sleep and more than enough nerves. It was a good thing she wasn't tutoring Natsuo that afternoon, because she couldn't have told him what the teacher taught even as he wrote it on the board. She looked for Natsuo in his classroom, hoping to get a head start on her plan. She wasn't surprised to find him missing.

 _Bring me what I asked for tomorrow night,_ Ki had said on the phone. Kagome couldn't imagine what a yakuza boss would want from a high school kid, but their best chance of getting to Ki would be through Natsuo, at the handoff. Natsuo didn't know they'd managed to fight off those goons last night, so he was still planning to trade whatever Ki wanted for Kagome's safety. Kagome could only hope he'd still be at the party.

As far as plans went it wasn't the best. But it was better than their usual strategy of reacting to whatever Naraku threw at them on the fly.

At lunch time, Yuka was all grins. "You guys are coming to the party, right?" she asked Eri and Ayumi.

"What party?" Eri asked. "The one Morikawa invited Kagome to? Uh, yeah, no thanks, I like my skin unperforated."

"Oh, it's not gonna be that bad!" Yuka assured her. "Morikawa wouldn't have invited Kagome if he thought she'd be in danger. Besides," she cajoled, "if you go you'll get to meet Kagome's _boooyy~friieeennd."_

Eri and Ayumi shrieked as Kagome shouted, "He's not my boyfriend!"

"What? Yuka, you met him? No fair!"

"When? How?!"

"That's a nice tomato impression you've got going there," Eri teased Kagome.

"We're just friends," Kagome snapped, trying to hide her red face as she stabbed at her vegetables.

"They're totally dating," Yuka said. "They just don't know it yet."

Eri _hmm_ ed over Kagome's spluttered denials as she slurped at her juicebox. "Where's it gonna be?"

Kagome told them the address. "That's right near my boyfriend's house!" Eri blinked. "It's not a bad neighborhood. But that's pretty far, in Seibu Academy's school district. Does Morikawa live there? Why does he go here?"

Kagome shrugged. "I think he said it was a friend's house."

Yuka gasped and slapped at Eri's hand in excitement. "This is perfect though!" She exclaimed. "We can go and have a good time, Eri and Kagome's boyfriends will protect us from getting stabbed-"

"Doubtful, Katsuhiko's a nerd," Eri interjected.

"We all meet Kagome's boyfriend and talk about him in the bathroom, and we go home happy, tipsy, and danced out," Yuka continued. "Win-win-win."

"You- that's not-" Kagome bleated. "I'm not going there to have a good time! And no, we're not going to go home happy if someone gets hurt! Are you seriously ignoring all the danger you were warning me about the other day just because you're allowed to go out now?"

"Hmm," Yuka drew out as she picked at her bento. She decided on a piece of omelet and stuffed it in her mouth. "Yep!

"Besides," Yuka went on. "If it's so dangerous why are _you_ going?"

Kagome looked around the classroom furtively. No one there but other students engrossed in their own lunch-time conversations. She hunched down and spoke quietly. Her three friends drew close to listen. "Remember those guys who attacked Inuyasha and me last night?"

"Vividly," Yuka said.

Ayumi and Eri made shocked noises. "Attacked?" Ayumi asked.

"We think they're connected to Natsuo," Kagome whispered. "And we think they're gonna be at that party. Or if they're not, Natsuo will be, and he can lead us to them."

Yuka responded in a similar volume. "So you're going _because_ there's danger? _To_ the people who beat your boy up so bad he couldn't remember the city he was in?" She hissed.

"That was last night. It's different now."

"So _you_ think you're not in danger," Yuka said. "But you don't think I should go? Why am I less capable than you?" She pulled back, crossing her arms with a scowl at Kagome.

Kagome squirmed. How could she politely say, "Yeah, I do think you're less capable than I am?" That Yuka was inexperienced to the real horror that existed in the hearts of men and demons? That she was an innocent, modern, teenage, city girl who's greatest hardships in life came from fighting with her parents?

But couldn't she say the same thing about herself, six months ago?

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Kagome mumbled into her desk. She hated fighting with her friends. "And I think stopping you from going is the right thing to do, even if you get angry at me for it. Because what if I didn't stop you, and you went, and you got hurt? That would be on me."

Yuka let out a slow breath and put her hand over Kagome's. "You're just like _him_ ," she muttered, almost to herself. "Listen. You're not my mom. It's not your job to protect me from myself. You've got to let me go out and make my own mistakes. And if I get hurt? That's my own stupid fault. But I'll learn from it. It's not on you.

"I'm not asking you to trust me not to get hurt," Yuka said. "I'm asking you to respect my right to do so. Even if it scares you."

Kagome turned her hand over to clasp Yuka's. "...Okay. I won't try to stop you."

"Yippee!" Yuka squealed, pumping both fists into the air. "Party tonight!"

"Man, this bitch could convince the rain to stop falling!" Eri cawed at the same time. Yuka cackled and struck a pose with her fingers up in a V. Kagome made a short, resigned laugh. "What are you telling us we're doing next, huh?" Eri asked. "Yuka Shimizu with an 11 o'clock curfew is a danger to us all."

"That you guys and Katsuhiko are also coming," Yuka grinned at her, leaning smugly back in her chair. "Don't bother arguing, we both know how it'll end."

"I'm in, if you guys are all going," Ayumi beamed. "This is gonna be my first highschool party. This is so exciting!"

"Excellent," Yuka clapped her hands together. "We'll head to Kagome's after school for outfits and makeup. And," she began, pointing at Kagome's opening mouth, "you may as well accept it, because we both know I've got arguments for that too."

* * *

Kagome watched her friends chatter as they stood bunched together, packed into the subway. Yuka had been abnormally quiet since they'd left Kagome's house, faces made and outfits decided, to head for the train. She smiled when Eri or Ayumi said something interesting, but her expression quickly faded to a resting frown.

"Nervous?" Kagome asked.

Yuka shrugged. "A little. It's a new experience. What about you?"

"It's not the new experience I'm worried about," Kagome murmured. She looked up at Inuyasha, who was holding onto the ceiling bar and serving as a support for Kagome and Yuka. "What are you thinking about, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha had his face turned, angled as far away from Yuka as it could get without actually moving his body. He currently had his nose almost touching the top of Kagome's head, and breathed through his mouth.

"That you shouldn't have worn perfume," he said. He jerked his head towards Yuka. " _She_ should have worn more."

Yuka elbowed him in the stomach. Inuyasha was wearing a white T-shirt and a thin blazer, but even without his fire-rat armor he barely registered the hit. "Stop saying I smell bad," she said.

"You don't smell _bad._ It's actually a good smell. It's just a really strong scent, okay?" Inuyasha said. "It's distracting."

Kagome narrowed her eyes. Hmm. She didn't like that.

The train slowed, and Kagome had to grab Inuyasha around the waist to keep her balance. So did Yuka. Hmm.

"Here's our stop," Eri said, already shoving her way through the masses towards the opening train doors. "I called Katsuhiko earlier and he said he knows the address. Apparently it's a student at his school who throws a lot of parties like this."

"And I bet hardly anyone gets stabbed at them, right?" Yuka called as she followed. Eri turned around a flashed a grin.

"Maybe just enough to keep things interesting," Eri said. "C'mon. Katsuhiko lives close by, and he can take us there."

Eri's boyfriend turned out to live only a block or two from the train station, and when the five of them showed up on his doorstep, he invited them in for snacks and something to drink. Inuyasha tossed his hair irritably, tapping his fingers against his leg as the girls made polite small talk.

"Okay, I'm just going to go to the bathroom and then we'll head out," Eri chirped. She headed towards a hallway, familiar with the geography of the house.

"Let's just go," Inuyasha groused. "There's probably gonna be a bathroom there, most houses have them."

Eri peaked her head back into the living room. "I'm not going to _poop_ in a _stranger's house,"_ she stage-whispered. She popped back into the hallway and called back, "you heathen!"

Inuyasha gave the hallway a confused look while Yuka and Katsuhiko snickered.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Katsuhiko asked. "The party doesn't start till 7:00 and it's only…" he glanced at the clock. "6:45. We're going to be embarrassingly early as it is."

"We're not going there to party," Kagome explained. "We're going to find a friend."

"And an enemy," Inuyasha growled.

"I mean…" Yuka began. "This guy you're trying to find, Ki, I get what he did to you. And he deserves to be taken down. But how are _you_ guys gonna do that?"

"Wait what," said Katsuhiko.

"We'll figure something out," Inuyasha said, resting a hand on Tetsusaiga, which he'd slipped through a belt loop on his skinny jeans.

"And you got away from him," Yuka went on. "Isn't it more dangerous to keep attracting this guy's attention? What if he comes for you again?"

"What if he comes for someone else?" Kagome asked. Yuka blinked in response.

"We're not after this guy for revenge," Kagome said. "We want to take him down because he's evil. What if he attacks someone else, someone who doesn't heal as quickly as Inuyasha?"

"Um," said Katsuhiko.

"What if," Kagome continued, "he comes for you?"

"That's…" Yuka squirmed. "That would certainly...suck. But it's not your responsibility, is it? That's what police are for."

Inuyasha snorted. "The hell it is. You see evil in the world, you slay it. That's _everyone's_ responsibility."

Eri skidded from the hallway into the living room. "Alright team!" she said, clapping her hands above her head. "Let's head out!"

They headed out. Inuyasha offered to carry Katsuhiko on his back and jump him to the location of the party, so he could get there faster. Katsuhiko politely declined.

After a (to Inuyasha) excruciatingly slow walk, the group turned a corner. On the street ahead of them there was one house with teenagers spilling out onto the lawn. Bass beats were audible even down the road.

"I think I can figure out the way from here," Kagome said dryly. Inuyasha folded his ears back under his cap against the loud music as they approached. He was used to the painful noise from Night Crimson, but that didn't mean he liked it.

One girl with long, black hair broke off from a circle of teen to lurch over and put her arms around Ayumi. "Hi!" she shrieked.

"Hi!" Ayumi said. She didn't notice as Kagome, Yuka, Eri, Katsuhiko, and Inuyasha all took several large steps back behind her.

"Do you guys wanna play ninja with us?" She shouted. "My friends are being stupid and don't want to play any m _Oh my god."_ She grabbed Ayumi's face and squished her cheeks. "You. Are so. _Adorable!"_

Ayumi turned back to her friends, a bright smile on her face. "You guys go on ahead, I think I'm gonna stay here and play ninja."

"And then," Eri said as they continued on into the house, "there were five."

The house was dark and crowded when they came in, the aromas of spilled beer and teen spirit wafting through the humid air.

"Are you sure this was supposed to start at seven?" Katsuhiko asked. "It's way too crowded for a party that allegedly just started."

Kagome withdrew from her pocket the piece of paper on which she'd written down the time and address of the party. "Yep, that's what he told me."

"God dammit, I told you we should have come earlier," Inuyasha snarled. He started forward, bulldozing through the bodies and sniffing the air intently.

"So Morikawa told you the wrong time," Yuka said. "So what?"

"Hey, watch it!" snapped one of the young men Inuyasha had shoved aside. They were about the same height, the boy's shoulder-length hair bleached a vibrant yellow. As he turned, he looked Inuyasha up and down and his scowl turned into a smirk.

"Oh, sorry bro," he said. "I can tell you're not trying to blend in, but maybe cool it with the pushing, Coz." He fingered a simple silver band around his neck. "Nice bracelet, by the way."

Inuyasha looked down at the bracelet that hid his youki and scent, the one he'd received two weeks ago when he'd first learned about the Hidden Bureau. He could smell the three girls and two guys closest to Blondie here, but only cologne and alcohol from the boy himself.

"...Thanks," Inuyasha said.

Blondie cocked his head. "I don't think we've met, cousin. Which is wild, since I'm pretty sure I know all my relatives in Tokyo."

Kagome and Yuka pushed forward to stand next to Inuyasha. "Relatives?" Yuka said. "What's he talking about?"

Blondie turned to look at Yuka. His eyes widened as he inhaled. " _Wow,"_ he breathed. "I _definitely_ don't know you, which I gotta say is a mistake I'd like to fix." He held out a hand. "Retsu Sosogumo."

"I- uh, I'm," Yuka spluttered. She shook his hand. "Yuka Shimizu."

"You know, I don't normally pay attention to this stuff," Retsu said, drawing close to Yuka to touch the fabric of her shirt. "But this is a bomb-ass shirt. Or maybe it's just you-"

Inuyasha smacked his hand away and shoved himself between Retsu and Yuka. "Go find your dinner somewhere else," he growled.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Yuka snapped, smacking Inuyasha's back.

"Yeah mate, what's your problem?" Retsu asked with a smirk. "Dinner? This isn't the eighteenth century. Or is this your girlfriend?"

"No!" Inuyasha, Kagome, and Yuka all shouted at once. "But I am her friend," Inuyasha went on. "And I'm a lot faster than those goons at the Hidden Bureau, so back off."

Retsu's air of cocky playfulness vanished. He grabbed Inuyasha's arm and looked nervously at the crowd of humans around him, his friends and Inuyasha's. "What the fuck are you saying, dude?" He hissed. "How about you shut the fuck up, maybe?"

Yuka rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for Morikawa? Somewhere else, ideally?"

One of Retsu's bewildered friends spoke up. "Morikawa? Natsuo Morikawa?"

"Yeah!" Kagome said, turning to the boy. "You know him? Do you know where he is?"

The boy glanced cagily at one of the girls in the group, some hidden conversation passing between them in the look. "Depends who's asking," he said. "And why."

"He- He's meeting someone tonight," Kagome said airily. "We're supposed to be there. He invited us here tonight, but he must have forgotten to give me all the details."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Dumbass," he said. "Yeah, that sounds like Natsuo all right. He went out like half an hour ago but he should be back soon."

Kagome tensed. "Out where?"

The boy turned to look at his girlfriend again. "I think he said… the convenience store?" She said. "He _has_ been gone an awful long time for someone just going to buy ice."

Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's sleeve.

"Yeah," he said. "Let's go."

As they dodged through the bodies back out the door, Yuka looked back and forth between them and Retsu, who had gone back to his formerly suave self. He was talking about something innocuous, and she didn't mind the way his eyes touched up and down her body. But she was losing sight of Kagome and Inuyasha in the crowd.

"Sorry," she interrupted him. "But I think my friends are about to go do something stupid. I've gotta go."

* * *

Yuka had already lost sight of Inuyasha's white hair by the time she found the door. Even though the sidewalk stretched far on either side of her, she saw no sight of them. They traveled fast.

"Damn it," Yuka muttered. It would be so easy to just turn around, go back to a party full of new experiences and a hot boy who was clearly into her.

She didn't buy Inuyasha's "this is my duty /revenge/whatever" philosophy when it came to handling criminals. Beating that guy up on their own would only make him angrier. When things started getting hairy, Yuka needed to be there with the Leash 2.0 to call the police.

Wherever Kagome and Inuyasha had disappeared to, Natsuo's story about the convenience store was definitely a lie. He was at this party to meet someone, Kagome had said. Where would two shady fellows meet to exchange contraband?

Yuka stood on the front step of the party house, trying to ignore the white noise from inside and the laughter from the ninjas on the lawn. If she were doing something illegal, she'd want to make sure she could get away fast. So: vehicle accessible.

Looking around, Yuka noticed an apartment building rising up on behind the party house. Its parking garage sat catty-corner to the backyard of the party house, and the door to the concrete structure was ajar. Bingo.

Yuka started walking. _This is so stupid. And dangerous_ , she thought. _I should go back._

She neared the open door, peeking inside. Nothing on the bottom level. She didn't realize her hands had been shaking until she saw the garage was empty, and exhaled.

She glanced at the stairs to the second level. She didn't actually expect to find anything, but being thorough meant she could scratch the building off her list. _It also means you can say you did your job and go back to the party. Coward._

She climbed the stairs and opened the door, not bothering to be sneaky this time. And then immediately recoiled back into the stairwell.

Because there stood Natsuo Morikawa, leaning against a car, chewing on an unlit cigarette. Yuka only caught a glimpse of the men he was facing, standing outside an idling black SUV.

 _Shit_ , she thought, scrambling back down the stairs. Behind her, she heard some exclamations, though she couldn't make out the words. She grabbed at her cell phone, hands trembling, and dialed in 119.

_"119, what is your emergency?"_

"I, um, there's this guy here," Yuka stuttered out. "He tried to kidnap my friend and he beat up her boyfriend, and now he's here and-"

_"Can you tell me your location?"_

"Yeah it's- well, no, I was at a party and he's in the parking garage behind it." She told the dispatcher the address of the party house. "I don't know the address of the building."

_"Okay, I have someone on the way. Can you tell me your name, Ma'am?"_

"Yeah it's Y-"

Yuka shrieked as the phone was knocked out of her hand. It clattered forwards on the concrete in front of her. Someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her around. It was a face that she didn't recognize, scowling down at her. Behind him, more young men, including Natsuo, spilled out of the stairwell.

"Were you calling the fucking cops?" Roared the man holding Yuka's wrist, shaking her. He turned back to shout at his buddies. "She was calling the fucking cops! You little shit, you working with the fuzz?"

Natsuo looked as horrified as the men surrounding him. "No, I swear I-"

They didn't let him finish, two men hitting him at once in the abdomen. Natsuo collapsed.

"I don't even know her, I don't-!"

The man holding Yuka grabbed her hair and forced her to her knees. "Who are you?" he shouted, shaking her by the head. "Why'd you call the-"

He didn't get a chance to finish. The man was knocked backwards as Yuka felt a rush of wind behind her. She saw a flash of silver and the red of blood, and heard Inuyasha's voice. _"Iron reaver, soul stealer!"_

Yuka sobbed, collapsing when her hair was released. Kagome rushed to her side.

"Yuka, are you alright?" Kagome knelt, putting her hands on Yuka's shoulders. "You have to get up, you have to get out of here."

The man who had been holding Yuka was down, clutching his bloodied chest and gasping. The rest of the men turned from Natsuo.

"You," spat the man in front when he saw Inuyasha. "I'll fucking kill you!" He charged, his buddies right behind him.

"Yeah, yeah, get in line," Inuyasha muttered. They lunged for him and Inuyasha jumped back, drawing his sword.

"No, Inuyasha, you'll bring down the building!" Kagome screamed.

From the gloom of the garage ramp came a roar as a black SUV shot down the ramp, aimed right at Inuyasha.

"I don't think so!" Inuyasha shouted, lifting Tetsusaiga above his head. As the car bore down on him Inuyasha ran at it, leaping to the side a moment before it hit him. He swung Tetsusaiga into the car with both hands. The metal of the car shrieked as it was cleaved in half, the front split from the back in a diagonal slice from the bottom to the top.

The front of the car continued onward. The driver inside turned the wheel and slammed on the brakes uselessly. The car slammed into the wall with a monstrous crash. Yuka and Kagome flinched, looking around nervously at the shaking walls.

The rest of the goons gaped at Inuyasha. The one in front who'd threatened to kill him took a trembling step backwards. "What the…"

"Don't move."

The voice of the man in the stairwell drew their attention away from Inuyasha. Ki's movement was almost languid, but his expression was hard as steel as he aimed his solid black handgun at Inuyasha.

"Y-yes sir!" The men shouted.

Ki fired.

Inuyasha was fast, but he wasn't faster than a speeding bullet. He leaped, grunting as the bullet hit him in the shoulder. Yuka and Kagome screamed at the boom of the gunshot.

"Okay, I'm ready to get out of here," Yuka cried, levering to her feet. The two of them ran to one of the walls. They could hide behind the cars if Ki turned his gun on them. But the stairwell he'd come from was adjacent to the garage exit, so they'd have to get within three feet of Ki if they wanted to escape.

Ki fired three more shots as Inuyasha jumped and ran, dodging behind cars and the back wreck of the SUV.

"Shoulda just killed you last night," Ki shouted. "If you even can die, you freak."

"Look," said Yuka, slapping at Kagome's arm and pointing out the far window of the parking garage.

Flashing blue and red lights.

From the entrance of the parking garage, two figures appeared. "This is the police, drop your weapons and put your hands up!" One called out, peeking around the edge of the door to aim his gun at Ki.

Ki turned, pointing his gun at the police officer who'd shouted. The shouter's partner spoke into his radio. "This is Hayasaka, requesting backup. Seven or eight hostiles, at least one with a firearm."

Ki's face contorted into a look of fury. He looked between the police officers; his men, grouped into a tight flock between the police and Inuyasha; and his bisected vehicle. Inuyasha stood near the back end of the SUV. His left shoulder was bleeding in a slow but steady stream, painting a growing red waterfall on his white shirt.

"Shit," Ki whispered.

Then he aimed his gun at Inuyasha and shouted. "Yosuke, go through the window and get lost!" He fired his gun at Inuyasha, forcing him to dodge and herding him to the side of the garage. The police officers flinched, holding their weapons even tighter.

"Drop the weapon or we'll shoot!" The team leader said.

Ki ignored them, continuing to shoot Inuyasha into a corner. His underlings bolted. With Inuyasha out of the way, they ran to the far end of the garage and scrambled out the window.

Ki ran after them, still aiming his gun at the car Inuyasha hid behind. The police followed, shouting at them to stop.

"Oh no you don't," Inuyasha snarled. He leaped forward. Ki shot again. Inuyasha ducked, missing the bullet. He raised his sword.

"Inuyasha, s-" Kagome said, and then slapped her hands over her mouth. Yuka gave her a curious look.

 _Are you insane?_ Kagome thought. She almost sat Inuyasha in the middle of a fight, while he had a _gun_ aimed at his head. She couldn't stop him. She wouldn't stop him.

Even if that meant he'd kill Ki.

Ki shot again. Inuyasha jerked to the side. He was close enough that he couldn't dodge the bullet entirely. It ripped through his bicep, right next to his bloody shoulder.

Inuyasha swung Tetsusaiga. Ki roared in pain as the blade sheared off the muzzle of the gun up to the trigger, as well as the first two knuckles of Ki's index finger.

As Ki curled up over his injured hand, Inuyasha raised his sword again and-

-hesitated?

Inuyasha glanced at the policeman running up towards them and sheathed Tetsusaiga. He jumped back as the officer tackled Ki, pinning him to the ground. As the other cop ran towards them, Inuyasha jumped to where Kagome and Yuka were hiding behind the cars. Yuka gasped when he appeared next to them, recoiling from the blood that splashed onto her.

"We need to get out of here," he ground out through gritted teeth. He jerked his head at Ki. "I can't kill him. Not while the well is still closed."

"Unless you're planning to break into prison, I think this is the last chance you're gonna get," Yuka muttered. And then, belatedly, "Oh, shit! Are you okay?"

"What's prison?" Inuyasha asked.

"Giant state-run dungeon," Kagome said.

"Good," Inuyasha said. "Ki's taken care of. We need to get out of here."

The three of them walked quickly down the row of cars to the entrance of the parking garage. The police officers were working on cuffing Ki and providing first aid to his truncated finger, and didn't notice. Natsuo had vanished.

"Let's go back to the house," Yuka said. "See if there are bandages in the bathroom, and I can call a cab to there to take you home."

There were teenagers hanging out in the backyard of the party house, spilling out of the back patio door. Yuka shoved her way in, clearing a path for Inuyasha and Kagome. Kids recoiled on their own when they saw the blood dripping from Inuyasha's arm and shoulder.

"Jeeze," Yuka muttered, elbowing out a path. "Doesn't this house have a bathroom? Or an upstairs?"

She eventually found a closed room that the surrounding partiers confirmed was indeed a bathroom. Yuka slammed her fist on the door.

"In here!" came a voice from inside.

"Well get out!" Yuka roared. "I need it!"

"Hey!" said one the the girls loitering by the door. "There's a line."

Yuka pointed at Inuyasha. The girl paled and stepped back. "Um, never mind."

They waited by the bathroom door. Inuyasha scowled at the air as he leaned against the wall, breathing hard.

"Oh shit," came a voice behind them. "What happened to you?"

Retsu Sosogumo stood back, drinking a beer with one hand, the other resting on his belt. Inuyasha's lip lifted in a half-hearted snarl.

"Are you a cat?" He asked. "You just keep coming back."

"Rabbit, actually," Retsu retorted. He pointed at the blood. "So…"

At that moment the bathroom door opened and a boy rushed out, vanishing into the crowd without looking at them. Yuka pushed her way in before anyone else could get a chance. Kagome and Inuyasha followed as Yuka began rummaging through the medicine cabinet. Retsu watched curiously from the door.

"I found bandaids," Yuka said, holding up the paltry thing. "Damn. I guess we have to call an ambulance-"

"No hospitals," Inuyasha and Retsu said at the same time. Yuka gave Retsu a curious look.

"Right, forgot," she said. "Can we go to Kagome's place? If I take you home looking like that, I swear my parents will never let me outside again."

"Sure, we've got loads of bandages," Kagome said.

"Why are you bothering with bandages when you've got a peach right there?" Retsu asked Inuyasha, gesturing to Yuka with his beer bottle.

The three of them stared at him until he squirmed. "What'd I say?" Retsu asked.

"Yeah," Kagome said. "What _did_ you just say?"

"What did you call me?" Yuka asked.

"Well, she's a Senka maiden, right?" Retsu said, still pointing at Yuka. "And if she's willing, she could heal up injuries like those." He pointed to the bloody fountains under Inuyasha's shirt.

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Yuka stared at him.

"I'm a _what_?" Yuka whispered.

Retsu stared at them. "Oh shit," he murmured. And then he doubled over. "No way," he laughed. "You're telling me you didn't know? Someone who smells like you do and no one's ever _told_ you?!"

"Told me what?!" Yuka snapped.

"You've been living for sixteen- how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen years, and you're _friends_ with a _demon_ ," this Retsu whispered, with a glance out the open bathroom door. "And no one's ever _told_ you?!"

"Rabbit, if you don't either shut the fuck up or explain, I'm gonna beat the shit out of you," Inuyasha growled.

"Gods, you don't know either?!" Retsu turned his attention to Inuyasha with a laugh. "I mean, I guess that's fair. She's the first one I've actually smelled in real life. But I've been told what they're like."

"Sosogumo!" Yuka snapped. "Start at the beginning!"

"Okay, okay," Retsu said. "So a Senka maiden is like, this human person. Who's like a major powerup for demons. And you," he pointed to Yuka. "Are one."

Yuka gaped at him.

"Demons can get their energy by eating them, drinking their blood, kissing them, screwing them," Retsu went on. Yuka gave Inuyasha a wary look. He returned it with a similar expression. "And that energy can heal wounds, I've heard."

"Apparently the strongest Senka maiden's scent is like, irresistible," Retsu said. "And she's only born every hundred fifty years or something. So I guess you're one of the weaker ones."

"So I'd have to...kiss him?" Yuka said. It was a slightly better option than having Inuyasha drink her blood.

Retsu shrugged. "I guess."

Yuka grimaced. She didn't want to do that. She glanced at Kagome. Kagome was staring at her with wide eyes, gripping the edge of the bathroom sink with white fingers. Her expression all but shouted, _If you kiss him I will murder you_. Inuyasha was avoiding all their eyes as he fished with his claws in his top bullet hole for the embedded bullet. But by his expression, Yuka guessed he was reading the same feeling from Kagome that Yuka was.

For some reason, learning she was special to demons didn't come as such a surprise to Yuka. It felt right. Appropriate. _Of course I'm special_. Which was a spoiled and arrogant thing to think, but...the evidence did support it.

A strange sensation curled in her stomach. Something like a memory. She was illogically confident that she could heal Inuyasha without having to kiss him. But there was something missing…

"You don't feel like a demon," Yuka began, then snapped her mouth shut. Feel like a demon? What the hell did that mean?

Kagome stared at her. "Do you…" she said. Then she turned to Inuyasha. "Take your bracelet off."

Inuyasha plunked one bloody bullet down in the sink. Then he took his bracelet off.

Retsu pulled back, startled. Yuka felt something… different. A quality to the air, something she could perceive with a sense she couldn't identify. The sensation triggered a memory: a vivid image of Inuyasha, standing in the school courtyard on the day she'd been thrown out of class. Yeah. He'd felt different, then.

The memory in her stomach stirred. _Bring it into your hands. Pull it up like stretching dough._

Yuka didn't know whose words she was remembering. And the feeling as she followed the instructions felt familiar, though she knew she'd never done it before in her life. It was like waking up and realizing she had another limb. She'd never used the muscles before, but the movement was instinctive. And she pulled something up from her gut and into her hands.

"Wow," Retsu murmured, taking two steps further into the bathroom. Inuyasha leaned in. Even Kagome gasped.

Yuka looked at her hand. She couldn't see anything. But she could feel something, a ball of energy cupped in her palm. Tendrils rose up and wisped away, like a sphere of fog.

Inuyasha reached forward. Yuka held up her hand and directed the fog into him. He inhaled sharply. When she'd finished, he dropped the stained blazer from his shoulders and ripped at the fabric of his shirt where he'd been shot. With the fabric torn open, it was clear to see. The bloody holes were closing before their eyes.

"More," Inuyasha gasped out.

Yuka obeyed. She pulled a bigger ball up this time and fed it into Inuyasha's youki. She felt giddy. Powerful. Everyone watched as the gunshot wounds scabbed over and healed, until they were no more than two pink scars among the pocked landscape of Inuyasha's chest.

Everyone stared. Inuyasha poked the scars tentatively.

"How do you feel?" Kagome asked.

"Great, actually," Inuyasha said. He slipped his bracelet back on and rolled his shoulders. Yuka could have whimpered for the loss. Without the youki she could taste in the air, she was back to being a regular fifteen year-old. She could still feel the power, her new limb. But it was quiescent with no youki to feed.

"Great?" Kagome asked quietly. She slumped down on the toilet and rested her head in her hands. "Man…"

"You okay?" Yuka asked.

"Yeah," laughed Kagome. "It's been a rollercoaster kind of day. But now the police have Ki, Inuyasha's all better, Natsuo's- Natsuo!" She shot up.

"He's fine," Inuyasha said. "He ran out as soon as I distracted everyone."

Kagome relaxed again. "Okay good. Whew!" she sighed. "I need…"

"A drink?" Yuka grinned.

"I was going to say a nap," Kagome said. "But if we're here, and everyone's okay…" she looked up at Inuyasha and shyly took his hand. "Inuyasha, do you want to dance with me?"

* * *

Retsu Sosogumo was friends with the host, and managed to snag Inuyasha another shirt when they all emerged from the bathroom. It was a soft, loose, muscle tank with big arm holes that reached almost to Inuyasha's waist. He didn't think it would cover that much more than if he'd gone shirtless, but Kagome wanted him to wear it, so he wore it.

After he brought Inuyasha a shirt, Retsu tried to teach them how to dance. Inuyasha had seen plenty of club dancing before, but he'd never had the option of participating. Not that he would want to. The bumping and grinding that most of Night Crimson's patrons seemed to enjoy just looked stupid and uncomfortable to Inuyasha.

"Well yeah, that's what I'm going to help you with," Retsu shouted over the pounding music. "Not the whole, 'not looking stupid' bit, I'm not that good a teacher."

He drew them over to a table covered in cups and bottles, and grabbed two plastic shot glasses. "Your first mistake," he said, "is that you're all sober. Of course you're going to feel stupid when you dance. Everyone looks stupid when they dance. The trick to enjoying it is to realize that, and then decide that you don't care."

He poured tequila into the two glasses and grabbed some conveniently placed lime slices and a salt shaker from the table. After explaining to the girls how to shoot tequila properly, he grabbed a large red cup and poured about three shots worth in. This he handed to Inuyasha.

"Just down it," he said.

"Don't I get limes and salt?" Inuyasha asked. Retsu had just explained to the girls how the limes and the salt and specific breathing patterns all made the tequila more bearable.

"Nah," Retsu said.

Inuyasha saw how people acted when they drank to excess. Some humans couldn't even stand up when they'd had too much. Inuyasha didn't even trust his own natural instincts, unlimited by Tetsusaiga's absence. What would he be like without his inhibitions?

He placed the cup on the table. "I'll stick to water." He turned to Kagome. "Is that alright with you?"

She smiled and put a hand on his arm. "Whatever makes you happy."

Inuyasha's face heated up and he turned away. _You being happy makes me happy._

Yuka and Kagome shot the tequila, and then another round that Retsu poured for them.

"Feeling it?" he asked.

Kagome, eyes squeezed shut against the taste, coughed out an "I think so." Yuka just gasped out "battery acid!" and sucked on her lime slice.

"Okay!" Retsu said. "Next step." He bowed to Yuka, sweeping his arm dramatically to the dance floor. "Dance with me, pretty lady?"

Yuka took his proffered hand with a giggle. As they walked to the area of the large room where the music was loudest and the crowd was thickest, Yuka turned to beam at Kagome with an expression that said, _Can you believe this? Look at what I'm actually doing!_

Kagome turned to Inuyasha. "I don't really want to do...that," she said, pointing to Eri and Katsuhiko, who were grinding on the dance floor and looking reasonably not-stupid. Eri was a good dancer. "I'd rather be looking at you when I dance."

"I think I'll sit this one out," Inuyasha said, looking out at dancers.

Kagome giggled. "It's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to," she said, touching his arm again. "I can dance with Eri and Yuka."

Inuyasha leaned against the wall as Kagome went in to dance. He watched her jump and flail and shake her hips in time to the music with her friends. Retsu was right. She did look stupid. But her smile was as big as she was beautiful, and Inuyasha felt his heart lurch just looking at her.

Several songs passed as the girls danced, and Inuyasha wandered around. He broke up a few fights between drunk teenagers on muscle memory alone, before he remembered that wasn't his job. The smell of sweat in the house was stronger than in the high-ceilinged Night Crimson lounge. He smelled something sharp coming from some of them, which after a moment he recalled was the drugs. He couldn't remember what Kimiko said that particular drug was called, but he knew she kicked out anyone who was sweating it.

He heard the sound of Kagome's squeak even over the booming music. He didn't think, he just pushed his way through the mosh pit.

A boy had come up behind Kagome to dance up on her. He hadn't put his hands on her hips, he'd straight up just grabbed her ass. She jumped forward into Eri, whirling around in shock.

Inuyasha cut in between them, shoving the boy back when he moved toward her again. "She's not interested," he said.

"What's your problem?" the boy snapped. "She's dancing bro, she wanted it. Don't start up with me because of your girlfriend's choices. And it's not like _you_ were dancing with her."

"Girls who dance with their girlfriends aren't interested in having guys on them," Inuyasha snapped, getting close in to the other guy's face. "Second, you don't grab her ass, motherfucker, you hold her hips. I saw what you did." He shoved him again.

"Fuck you," the boy hissed. He backed up and Inuyasha let him fade into the crowd.

Kagome stood still among the dancers, a fearful expression on her face. "I think I'm done dancing," she said quietly, head lowered to her hands in front of her chest.

"Hey, no," Inuyasha said. "Don't let that jerk ruin this for you."

"I don't think I'll be able to enjoy it after this," she said, shaking her head.

"Wait," Inuyasha said, grabbing her shoulders. "I'll stay and…" he looked around, his face heating up as he looked anywhere but at her. "I'll dance with you. And if any other men come near you, I'll cut their hands off."

Her face was lowered, so Inuyasha couldn't see her eyes, but he saw the smile grow in her cheeks.

"You'll dance with me?" she asked.

"Keh. I just said I would, didn't I?"

They started off slow, holding hands and swaying in time to the music. Kagome was still nervous around other dancers, and Inuyasha just didn't like dancing. But as she got into it, Kagome's movements got bigger until she was pulling Inuyasha into wide, joyful swings and jumps. He grinned back at her as they shimmied to the music.

They danced a few more songs, until Kagome, beaming, stretched. "I'm going to get something to drink," she shouted over the music. Inuyasha nodded. He was also smiling.

Kagome's drink break turned into a bathroom break. She took an almost empty bottle of orange juice from the drinks table to finish as she stood in line. As she waited in front of the bathroom, she realized she could hear words from around the corner.

"Oh my god, did you see him?" she heard one girl gush. "And his arms? Like, holy crap."

"I know. When he was just standing there he looked like a model."

Kagome grinned. High school conversation sounded about the same as middle school conversation. She missed being able to talk about boys when she wasn't the one being grilled.

"I've never seen hair like that on a guy though," the first girl said. "And his dye job is like, super on-point. It looks really natural, even though it's white."

Kagome inhaled her orange juice and started coughing. One of the other teens waiting for the bathroom gave her a concerned look.

The high school girls' chatter didn't sound so fun and cute now. Kagome looked down to realize she'd crushed the orange juice bottle in her hand.

When she finished coughing, she tuned back in to her eavesdropping.

"...the way Kasai was eyeing him? She'd jump his bones in a heartbeat."

"Yeah," the first speaker sighed. "But it looks like he's got a girlfriend."

 _He's not my boyfriend,_ Kagome thought automatically.

"How do you know?"

"I mean, he just stood there and walked around for most of the time Kasai was watching him, and then he danced like twenty songs with one girl. And now that she's gone he's back to propping up the wall. Definitely a girlfriend."

Kagome felt her face heat up, more than the alcohol and the dancing and the hot house had caused already. Girlfriend, huh? Hearing how the girls checked their ambitions, Kagome was fiercely happy at the title. Even though it was wrong.

The bathroom door opened and Kagome went in. When she came out, she danced a little more, without Inuyasha this time. But she remembered his face drawing close to hers when they danced, his eyes bright and smiling in the dim house. And she thought, in those moments, that she couldn't possibly love him more.

* * *

OMAKE

"Eri, Kagome's kind of...weird," Katsuhiko said, the two of them on break from dancing at the snack table. "And so is her boyfriend."

"Yeah, I guess she can be kind of intense." Eri shrugged. "As for her boyfriend. Well, I thought he was a jerk at first. Now I think he's just kind of awkward."

"Why do you think that? He just seemed like a jerk to me," Katsuhiko said.

Eri pointed across the room, where Inuyasha was leaning against a wall. "What other word would you use to describe someone who brings a sword to an after school party?"

* * *

Kagome was standing next to Inuyasha, watching her friends dance when a commotion drew their attention to the other room. Someone turned off the music as a crowd of people gathered in the sitting room, cheering. Kagome and Inuyasha went forward to investigate. Eventually she could make out the theme of the crowd's noise.

"...birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Akechi…"

"This is a _birthday_ party?" Kagome exclaimed. The crowd had lifted one boy onto their shoulders, and he rode their hands with laughter. Several people raised disposable pans of cake, which the birthday boy grabbed and lifted into the air as he cheered.

"Oh man, I'm starving," she realized out loud. "Let's get some cake."

She tried to push through the crowds, but it turned out every teenager in Tokyo was at the house and as ravenous as she was. They crowded the snacks table like a hungry cinderblock wall.

"I'll get some," Inuyasha said, and Kagome smiled gratefully at him. He shoved through the crowd with his patented bulldozer maneuver. Kagome stepped back to get some space, and ended up leaning against a wall.

"Kagome!" Someone shouted, and suddenly heavy, warm arms were wrapped around her, squeezing tight.

"You're… you're alright! You're alive!" Natsuo exclaimed. "I thought you were… when I saw you in the garage, I didn't understand what was happening, but- are you okay? How did you get away from Ki? Where was he keeping you? Did he hurt you?"

Kagome gave his arm a few comforting pats before pushing him off. She was more comfortable with his spontaneous hugs than she'd been a few days ago, but he smelled like alcohol. Natsuo kept his hands on her arms, not wanting to let go, not believing she was there, and safe, and unharmed.

"I'm fine," she explained. "And Ki never actually managed to kidnap me. He called you when he thought he had, and he beat up Inuyasha pretty bad, but we managed to get away."

"But…" Natsuo said, looking into her eyes. "I heard you scream, on the phone…"

Kagome shrugged free. "Yeah, he slapped me. But really, I was fine. I wish you'd been in school today so I could have told you then and avoided this whole mess!" She gestured in the general direction of the parking garage.

Natsuo released her and looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fingers. His face crumpled in anguish. "I got you involved with this."

Kagome put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey. I can handle it. _We_ can handle it."

"But you'd be able to handle it even better if you weren't up to your eyeballs in drug running," a brash voice cut it.

Natsuo's head shot up, his body flinching in shock. Inuyasha stood in front of him, two plastic plates of cake in his hands. He handed one plate to Kagome.

" _What?!"_ Kagome said.

Natsuo looked back rapidly between Kagome and Inuyasha. His eyes were as round and white as golf balls. "You- what? I. How-" he sputtered.

Inuyasha tapped his nose. "It smells rank even when it's not being burned, y'know. But Kimiko says it's pretty harmless. Unlike some other stuff I've smelled at this party. But even if it's harmless, when you're smuggling illegal stuff, you fall in with evil people."

" _Drugs?!"_ Kagome hissed. "You're selling _drugs?!"_

Natsuo waved a denial. "What? No, of course not!"

Inuyasha pointed to Natsuo's stuffed pants pocket, and then to his two jacket pockets. "Weed." He said. "Weed. Not sure what else is in that one but it's got some weed in there too."

Natsuo's face was red before, but now it get purple. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He shouted at Inuyasha. "Mind your own damn business!"

"This _is_ my business," Inuyasha growled back. "Your stupid crimes put Kagome in danger. If I hadn't been with her that night, Ki would have taken her for real. And if she'd been hurt…" He didn't bother to verbalize his threat. He just took a step closer to Natsuo, hand on his hilt.

"Don't blame- you're not-" Natsuo blustered. "You're not innocent either! If you hadn't beaten up Ito's group, it never would have come to this, Ki wouldn't have gotten involved." He gestured at Kagome. "They were trying to get revenge on you as much as they were trying to blackmail me!"

For the first time in the conversation, Inuyasha looked flustered too. "I was protecting her!" He snapped. "I only did what you were too weak to do."

Their shouting had gathered a crowd, even in the noise of the room. The room was stuffed to bursting with partygoers eager for more cake and booze, but there was a three foot bubble around Natsuo, Inuyasha, and Kagome.

Natsuo lunged at Inuyasha, swinging a fist. Inuyasha caught it with ease. With his other hand, Natsuo grabbed the cake off of Inuyasha's plate and swung.

Inuyasha turned his head to avoid the chocolate cake in Natsuo's hand. Kagome watched in horror as the cake slammed into his hair, chocolate icing and crumbs squishing through silver locks. Some icing got through to stick on his face, and crumbs dropped over his shoulder.

The crowd around them went quiet, before exploding in _oooh_ s and cheers and calls of "fight!" Kagome stood, shell shocked through the noise. Natsuo pulled his fist out of Inuyasha's and jumped back a pace.

Inuyasha smirked. "That didn't even hurt!" He jeered at Natsuo. "Idiot."

The crowd burst into laughter. Natsuo sneered at Inuyasha. Kagome's thought that if she'd cracked an egg on her cheeks, it would fry.

"Natsuo," Kagome said. "Inuyasha."

In the noise of the party, Natsuo couldn't hear Kagome's quiet voice. Inuyasha did. He took a look at her and flinched back, his nasty smile hardening and cracking in fear. He took a step back from her.

"You're calling me an idiot, idiot?" Natsuo went on. "At least with that crap in your hair you look as dumb as you-"

"NATSUO MORIKAWA," Kagome screamed, incandescent. She wasn't even that loud, compared to the roar of their audience. But the heat of her rage made up for the weakness of her vocal chords.

Natsuo turned and flinched when he saw Kagome's furious expression. His sneer morphed into an expression of " _oh shit."_

"Wait, wait," Natsuo stammered, gesticulating helplessly. "It's not- I swear, I didn't mean to do that. Kagome, _wai-_ "

"You're unbelievable!" Kagome shouted. "You're like a child! Do you even _think_ about what you're doing to other people? Or do you just do what you want all the time?"

"No, please, I-"

"I get that sometimes violence really is the only option," Kagome snarled. "The problem is that _you_ use violence to protect your ego," She pointed at Inuyasha. " _He_ uses it to protect others."

She turned and stomped towards Inuyasha. He backed up but she grabbed his arm, pulling him through the whispering crowd.

"We're leaving," she snapped. She blinked furiously, eyes glittering in the dim house lights.

"Uh, Kagome," Inuyasha hesitantly asked, "are you…"

"No!" Kagome exclaimed, turning and jabbing a finger in his chest. "You're not innocent either, you know! You're plenty violent on people who don't deserve it. Like Shippo!"

"What?!" Inuyasha blurted out. "The hell's Shippo got to do with this? What's up with you?"

Kagome made a frustrated grunt and stomped away. Inuyasha grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. He grabbed her other shoulder. "Tell me. What's. _Wrong,_ " he growled.

Kagome hiccuped and tears began to spill from her shining eyes. Tears of rage, Inuyasha noted as she wiped them angrily from her cheeks.

"I don't know." She whispered to keep her voice from cracking. "I'm just so furious. I want to give Natsuo another chance, I really do. And I know he's a good kid! Or at least I thought he was." She wiped her eyes again. "So maybe I'm trying to put the blame on you. Or maybe it's just spilling out at you because you're here."

"But how dare he do that to you!" She continued, whispering to herself as much as to Inuyasha. "How dare he…! In front of everybody!"

"Wait," Inuyasha said. " _That's_ what you're angry about? Not the drugs?"

Kagome considered the question. "I _should_ be angrier about the drugs. But yeah."

"Well I'm fine," Inuyasha said. "He couldn't have hurt me if he tried. And I don't even think he was trying that hard."

"Yeah, but he made you look stupid! In front of everyone!" The thought brought fresh rage into Kagome's eyes, and she balled her hands into white-knuckled fists.

Inuyasha touched the cake in his hair. "Kagome, I really do not give a flying demon's ass what a bunch of dumb human teenagers think of me." He didn't care what _any_ human thought about him. Except for one.

He scraped some of the chocolate icing from his hair and stuck it in his mouth. Kagome made a face of disgust. _Sticky,_ Inuyasha thought. This was definitely worse than Shippo's mud-dumping pranks. He scraped off more icing and stuck it in his mouth. He liked the taste of chocolate, but it gave him a stomach ache.

"By the way," he said around a finger full of frosting, "Shippo totally deserves everything he gets when he antagonizes me. If I didn't keep him in line, he'd be a menace and you know it."

"You really don't care?" Kagome asked.

"About Shippo? I do. That's why I hit him."

"No, about…" she gestured to the cake in his hair.

Inuyasha shrugged. "It's a pain. I'm gonna have to wash it now." He gave her an exasperated eye roll. "But the people? No, I don't care. I don't know why you do."

Kagome laughed tearfully. "I thought I was over caring about stupid stuff. Takes time, I guess."

"Yeah well, take less time," Inuyasha scoffed, folding his arms.

Kagome punched him playfully in the chest. "I'm trying, jerk," she said. " Now come on. Let's go home and wash your hair."

* * *

Ayumi had made several friends and was sitting on a girl's lap on a couch. Eri and Katsuhiko, after breaking for cake, were back on the dance floor. Kagome eventually found the creature formally known as Yuka Shimizu and Retsu Sosogumo that was now a siamese twin joined at the mouth.

She tapped Yuka on the shoulder. Yuka held up a finger and didn't stop her kissing. _Just a minute._ Kagome tapped her again, harder. Yuka finally came up for air to turn and glare at Kagome. Retsu made a little whimper when her lips left his.

"Inuyasha and I are leaving now," Kagome said. "You go home with Eri and Ayumi."

Yuka's irritation immediately vanished. "Is everything alright?" She took note of Kagome's red-rimmed eyes and the mess in Inuyasha's hair.

"We're fine," Kagome said, with an embarrassed smile in Inuyasha's direction. "No one got hurt. We're just going to go clean up."

"Ah," Yuka drew out with a smirk. "Did you both finally realize you want to bone each other?"

Kagome blushed crimson. "What! Yuka!" She moved to kick her friend in the ankle. "Geeze, no! God!"

Yuka snickered and pulled back from the blows. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Let me know how it goes," she laughed.

Kagome huffed and left, pulling a tomato-red Inuyasha with her.

"I highly recommend, kissing at least!" Yuka called after them. "It's pretty fun!" Kagome turned as she walked to give her another scandalized look.

"Hey, give credit where it's due," Retsu said. " _You_ are having fun because _I'm_ a fantastic kisser."

Yuka raised an eyebrow. "Are you not having fun?"

"I'm having loads of fun," the rabbit demon said. "Your kissing skills notwithstanding."

Yuka scowled at him. "Rude," she muttered. "I'm new at this."

"We can work on it," Retsu murmured, leaning closer.

* * *

They didn't bother taking the train home, since it was just the two of them. Kagome bummed a ponytail holder off a stranger at a party to tie Inuyasha's hair up, and managed to get a minimum of chocolate frosting on her party clothes. She rode on Inuyasha's back as he jumped between rooftops. She held on tight, wedging her face in where his neck met his shoulder. She missed this. How long had it been?

With a visceral shock, Kagome realized that the two of them had been stuck in the modern era for a little over two weeks. That was it? It felt more like five years.

When they got home, Mrs. Higurashi, Grandpa, and Sota were sitting in the living room playing a board game. Mama was the only one not yet in pajamas.

"I'm home," Kagome called wearily in from the mudroom, slipping out of her shoes. Inuyasha eagerly kicked off the high tops the girls had forced him into and dropped his cap onto the floor.

"Welcome home sweetie," Mama said. Sota and Grandpa also gave cursory greetings before returning to their game of capitalist conquest.

"You're back early," Mama said. "You said you wouldn't be home until 10:30."

"Yeah well," Kagome said, glancing at the wall clock. 9:17 PM. "Something came up. Is it alright with everyone if I use the bath?"

Mama nodded. "We're all done with it."

"Great," Kagome muttered. "C'mon, Inuyasha." He followed. Three heads turned to watch them go, because hadn't Kagome just said she was going to take a bath?

"Play without me, I'm done," Mama said, standing up.

"What?!" Sota exclaimed. "Why?"

"I'll tell you when you're older," Mrs. Higurashi muttered.

* * *

"Take your shirt off," Kagome ordered as they entered the bathroom. She jabbed towards the stool in front of the shower wall. "Down."

Inuyasha obeyed as he watched Kagome snatch at a brush and the shower wand and other necessities. Anger still wafted off of her; it hissed out of her sharp movements like steam from an engine.

"Lean your head back," she ordered as she turned the water on.

Inuyasha did. Kagome waited with her hand under the stream as the water warmed. When she finally turned the water on to his head, careful to keep from soaking his pants, Inuyasha couldn't help but wonder _why._ He _was_ able to wash his own hair.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Inuyasha lurched forward as Kagome squeezed cold, smelly slime directly on his scalp.

Kagome blinked at him. "What?"

Inuyasha pointed at the foul-smelling bottle in her hand. "What crap did you just put on my head?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Shampoo?"

He grabbed at it and flung the stuff off his head, then ran his hands under the water to clean them off. "Well, don't. It smells nasty."

Kagome sniffed it. "No it doesn't, it smells like rose- wait." She looked at Inuyasha with wide eyes. "Are you telling me you don't know what shampoo is?"

"Clearly I know what it _is,"_ Inuyasha said, pointing at the bottle. "I don't know what it's _for-"_

"You've been living here for over two weeks and you've never used shampoo?!" Kagome exclaimed. "Haven't you gone to the baths with Sota and Gramps? Didn't they explain this stuff?"

Inuyasha looked at her in confusion. "I'm an adult, Kagome, I know how to take a bath by myself-"

They were interrupted by a knock on the open door. It swung open a little more and Mrs. Higurashi poked her head open.

"Everything alright in here?" She asked, assessing the situation.

"Yes, Mama, we're fine," Kagome said.

"Because I hope you know that the two of you are _not_ allowed to take baths together," Mrs. Higurashi said, pointing at the two of them.

"Mama!" Kagome blushed firetruck-red. "That's not what we were talking about! Geeze!"

"Good, good," Mrs. Higurashi nodded placidly. "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be in the office." She pointed at the door across the hall from the bathroom.

"Okay, okay," Kagome said, waving her out. "Go."

Mrs. Higurashi opened the door fully. "Keep the door open, Kagome," she said as she left.

"Ma- nothing's going to happen!" Kagome shouted into the hall. She turned back to Inuyasha, who was doing his best impression of a blind and deaf statue. "Why does everyone…" She huffed and shook her head, as if the embarrassment might fall out her ears.

"Anyway," she coughed, running her hand through Inuyasha's hair. "It's no wonder your hair's so rough, if you never use shampoo."

"Hey!" Inuyasha felt his hair. "My hair feels fine."

"Oh yeah?" Kagome smirked. "Not compared to mine."

She leaned over his shoulder, angling the shower head away from the two of them. Her hair fell onto his shoulders, tickling his bare skin. The scent of her bloomed around it, even covered as it was by that nasty shampoo and the perfume she'd put on for the party. Inuyasha tried to be discreet as he inhaled deeply.

"Here, feel it," Kagome said. Inuyasha touched it.

"No, not like that," Kagome said. "You've got to run your hand through it, feel it between your fingers."

"Feels good," he choked out after a moment.

"Told you," she hummed, smirking.

He said nothing as she squeezed more shampoo onto his head. She giggled a bit as she lathered it in. When he got his voice back, Inuyasha said, "Looks like you're in a better mood."

"Mm," she agreed. And it was true. It felt nice to run her fingers through Inuyasha's hair, removed from the stress of the party. And didn't scientists agree that petting a dog was good for one's health?

They were silent as Kagome rinsed out the shampoo, carding his clean hair with her fingers. He groaned as she picked up the conditioner.

"Another one?" he asked. "How much crap do you want to put in my hair?"

"Last one you big baby," Kagome said, running it through his hair.

"Hey, you're not the one who has to smell this stuff," Inuyasha said, pretending to gag.

"These are the ones I use! You saying I smell bad?"

"You know I don't," Inuyasha grumbled. "But your shampoo does."

" _Fine,"_ Kagome sighed. "I'll look for shampoo with no scent, is that better?"

Kagome rinsed out the conditioner, and even when she was done, kept the water on as she ran her hands through his hair. She didn't want the moment to end. Inuyasha wasn't really one for casual touch, and she didn't think she'd get another chance like this. Freshly washed, his hair was as soft and silky as puppy's fur. Inuyasha let his head fall further backwards, relaxing into her hands when they came near his head. His eyes were closed, and his brows were serene and unfurrowed.

Inuyasha tilted his head to the side as Kagome scooped his hair into her hand at let it fall through her fingers. His gleaming tresses framed his left shoulder. The muscles bunched as his hands held onto the edge of the stool behind him.

The back of Kagome hand brushed against Inuyasha's bare back. His skin was hot, warmer than the water. She felt him shiver, and watched his shoulder muscles tremble.

They were really nice muscles, Kagome thought as she absently played with his hair. Lean and strong under soft skin, despite his scars. She wanted to touch them. She wanted to…

Kagome leaned forward, indulging the strangest desire. She wanted to touch those beautiful muscles with her lips, taste his warm skin. _I won't actually do it,_ she thought. _I just want…_

Softly, she kissed his neck.

It took a full second- an eternity- for her to realize what she'd done. Kagome leapt back, cheeks on fire. Inuyasha was still.

"Oh my god," she said. Inuyasha straightened, still facing away from her. "I'm so sorry, I don't know why I did that! I didn't mean-"

She fell silent as he turned and grabbed her flailing arm in a firm, gentle hold. He looked into her eyes with a serious expression. Intensely, Kagome realized through the pounding of her heart, but not upset. Not flustered, just intent. He was intent with everything important to him.

He slowly pulled her forward, bringing her down to his level as he sat on the stool. His grip wasn't tight, giving her time and opportunity to escape, if she wanted. She didn't want.

And then their faces were centimeters apart from each other, and Inuyasha didn't pull her any closer.

 _What in the world..._ Kagome thought as she closed the distance. She brought a hand up to his jaw and kissed him. _What in the world were we waiting for?_

It was chaste at first, their lips closed as they touched. It wasn't enough. Kagome suddenly couldn't get enough of Inuyasha. She wanted to taste his lips, touch him, get her fill of him.

She dropped the shower head in the bathtub, not even bothering to turn it off. She ran her fingers down his arms, (and god, didn't realize how long she'd wanted this), ending with a light touch on his wrists. She felt his silver bracelet and suddenly wanted that gone too; it hid his scent and youki, and right now she wanted _all of him._

Inuyasha pulled her face closer to his, tangling his fingers in her hair. He ran them through it, as she had done to him moments before. As Kagome unclasped his bracelet she felt the fluttering touch of his tongue on her lips.

She kissed him back, giddy. As his scent and youki flooded her senses, most of her was drunk on him. But a small part of her brain was distracted enough to think, _If I couldn't see and touch him before this, I wouldn't even know he was here._

Her whole life, she'd been living in a world full of demons. But with the Hidden Bureau's magic jewelry and the help of spiritual-powered glamours, she'd been oblivious the entire time. She remembered the demons who'd come to register Inuyasha had said it was a demonic power, not a spiritual one.

 _Amazing,_ she thought. _A demon could cause all kinds of trouble in the feudal era with that kind of power, and none of us would be able to sense it at all._

A demon causing trouble, and she couldn't sense it at all…

Like magnets finally meeting each other, it all came together. Kagome pulled her head back with a gasp and shouted, "Inuyasha!"

Demons hidden from the senses.

A demon who could hide itself from every sense.

" _It was I who sent the Nurikabe at the maiden's behest."_

"I'm sorry!" Inuyasha exclaimed, pulling back his hands like her skin burned him. "Fuck. Shit. I thought—I thought you wanted to! I didn't mean—"

"Inuyasha, how does the Hidden Bureau hide demons' youki?"

"—to hurt you, I swear I d—" Inuyasha stopped talking, taking in her breathless grin. She could almost see his train of thought hit a cow before it switched tracks. "The…Hidden Bureau? What?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed. She bent down to pick up his bracelet. When she sealed it over his wrist, his demonic aura vanished. "The bracelet hides you somehow. How? We've got a demon in our well that we can't sense, we can't see, you can't smell- what if they're connected?"

Inuyasha, who much preferred kissing her to mental exercises, stared at her in confusion.

"Sango said in her letter that the little girl, the one who got bitten by the rat demon? She was friends with a demon that could make itself and other demons invisible." Kagome waved the matter away and went on. "Maybe the way the Hidden Bureau hides its demons is connected. _And maybe they can help us open up the well."_

Both teenagers lurched as the bathroom door slammed into the wall, Mrs. Higurashi leaning in. She looked at Inuyasha and Kagome's red faces, and the fact that both parties still had on all the clothes they'd been wearing the last time she peeked in.

"So I guess you're all done, then?" She asked with a smile.

Kagome grinned shakily as she went to the shower and turned the water off. "With that, yeah," she said. "But we think we have to go out again."

* * *

Inuyasha took Kagome through the Night Crimson entrance, since it was the way he knew best.

Standers-in-line jeered as Inuyasha skipped the queue, taking her in with a professional nod at the bouncer at the door.

"What the hell?" Someone shouted. "She's like fifteen!"

The club was like the house party on steroids. The room was so large and dark that Kagome couldn't see the ceiling. Kagome felt out of place in the outfit she'd worn for the party, (short shorts and a loose, flowing top) which she'd thought cute and a little risqué at the start of the night. These people made her look like a nun. The room was filled with smoke and hopping lights, and the blasting music made her chest hurt.

"Where's Kimiko?" Kagome couldn't hear the words Inuyasha said, but she read his lips as he approached a bouncer near the bar. She couldn't hear the short conversation that followed, but the Inuyasha led her through a door behind the bar . He shut it behind him and Kagome could hear herself think again.

Night Crimson may have been party in the front, but it was all business in the back. They went through several hallways, workers dressed in suits passing them, until Inuyasha was almost running when they finally emerged in the lobby.

The receptionist didn't even look up from her computer as Inuyasha crashed to a halt in front of her desk.

"If you have an appointment please sign in," she said, pointing to the book on top of the desk.

"Where's Kimiko?" He asked.

"She's not in tonight," the receptionist responded. She finally looked up and gave Inuyasha and Kagome a dismissive once-over.

"W—" Inuyasha began. "What do you mean she's not in? Where else would she be?"

The woman finally turned her full, contemptuous attention on Inuyasha. "Her home?"

Inuyasha blinked. "I thought she lived here," he muttered.

"Listen," Kagome cut in. "It's really urgent that we speak to someone in charge. We need to know how the magic jewelry works," she said, pointing at the receptionist's simple silver necklace and Inuyasha's bracelet.

The woman blinked at Kagome, her incredulous expression morphing slowly into a grin. "You," she laughed. "You two, two nameless demons who don't even know what the Conduits are called, barge in here without an appointment to get a lesson on classified information?" She leaned back in her swivel chair, hooting with laughter.

"Good one! Ah…" she trailed off, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "I appreciate that you guys, I really do. But please leave." She waved limp fingers at them. "You're holding up the line." There was no one behind them.

"Listen," Inuyasha snarled, but Kagome held a hand up to his chest.

Her fury usually raged like a bonfire, but she didn't have time for a temper right now. Cool as ice, Kagome leaned over to put her hand on the receptionist's shoulder. She couldn't sense the woman's youki, but somehow her body knew. A pink glow rose to Kagome's hand.

"Listen," she said. "It's important."

The demon shot backwards with a hiss, crashing her rolling chair into the wall of neat drawers behind her.

"So please call someone who can answer our questions," Kagome said, smiling sweetly. "Now."

She stepped back. The receptionist rolled forward and grabbed the phone, dialing in an extension with trembling fingers. When she finished dialing she rolled back to the wall, as far from Kagome as she could place herself.

"Madame, it's Hiro," the receptionist said with an impressively even voice. "There's. Um. There's a woman from the Holy Registry here, and she says she needs to talk to you."

* * *

The receptionist sat the two of them on hard chairs in the lobby, as far from the front desk as possible. They didn't have to wait long before the imperious clacks of the Madame's high heels made their way into the lobby.

Kagome and Inuyasha stood up. Kagome wiped her sweaty hands on her shorts, heart hammering somewhere between nerves and excitement. They finally had a real lead! _Unless it turns out to be a coincidence after all._

The Madame wore a long black dress that dragged on the floor despite her high heels. She billowed into the room, followed by her ever present train of shaded goons. When she saw the two of them her braced shoulders slumped forward a centimeter, and her stern, imperious expression became something more human.

"Oh," she sighed. "It's you two."

"We're not leaving until we get answers," Inuyasha said.

The Madame glanced tersely between the two teenagers and sighed again. She turned around, waving for them follow. "Alright, you may as well come in. I already banished my 10 o'clock appointment since I thought I had a political disaster at my doorstep," she said. She turned a miffed eye on Kagome. "For the record, Holy Registrants _never_ come to the Hidden Bureau's offices in person."

"Whatever that is," Kagome said, "I'm still not part of it." But she was glad her threat had gotten results.

The Madame took them up an elevator and through a perfumed hallway. She lead them into a large office filled with filing cabinets. Several colorful, impressionist paintings hung on the wall. The Madame gestured to the two seats in front of her large wooden desk. She, Inuyasha, and Kagome all sat, while her goons filed in silently to stand at the back of the room.

"Now please explain why you have come here, disrupted my schedule, and wasted my time," the Madame said, her lips pulling back to bare her teeth.

The office, like most of the Night Crimson building, Kagome realized, had no windows.

Inuyasha pulled off his bracelet and dropped it on the desk. The feel of his youki bolstered Kagome. They may have been in the belly of the beast, but it was the beast that ought to be frightened.

"We need to know how these things hide youki," Inuyasha said. "And how to counteract them. Can they hide other things than youki and scent? Like visibility?"

"That's highly classified information," The Madame said, leaning back in her chair and steepling her fingers. "I'm afraid I can't help you."

Inuyasha put his hand on Tetsusaiga. His fingers opened and closed on the hilt. "You said you owed me a favor," he growled, his voice thick with frustration and desperation. "I'm calling it in."

The Madame narrowed her eyes. The room was still for a moment, viscous with anticipation.

"Why do you need the information?"

Kagome let out her breath and explained. She told the woman about how she traveled to the past on the regular, and how Inuyasha had been trapped on this side of the well.

"We have information that it's a Nurikabe blocking us, but we can't _sense_ it, so we can't kill it. Somehow another demon made it that way, so we can't smell or see or-"

"Benkikou," the Madame interrupted.

Kagome paused, mouth open. "Yes," she said after a moment.

The Madame leaned back forward. "I can confirm that a demon with such abilities and that name does exist," she said. She stared pointedly into Inuyasha's eyes. "To suggest anything further, or any connection between such a demon and the _entire basis of the Hidden Bureau's security system_ would be a grievous breach of security and protocol."

There was silence as Kagome and Inuyasha digested the information.

"So you're saying the jewelry- the Conduits- _are_ made using Benkikou's power," Kagome said.

"No," the Madame growled, turning her irate gaze on Kagome. "I am very explicitly _not_ saying that."

"Well can you make it turn it off?" Inuyasha asked. "On the Nurikabe that's blocking our time travel."

The Madame pinched the bridge of her nose. "There is only one Benkikou under the Hidden Bureau's purview. He is…" she paused, grimacing with closed eyes. "Difficult to manage."

After several seconds she opened her eyes and laced her fingers together. "I can help you speak to him, but I couldn't force him to do anything even if I wanted to. Convincing him to help is up to you."

She got up from her desk and walked to the door. "Consider my debt repaid," she said, staring pointedly at Inuyasha. "Come with me. I will take you to Benkikou."

* * *

The Madame took them to a garage filled with anonymous looking black cars, just like the one that had been used to kidnap Inuyasha from the street. They filed in, one of the goons acting as chauffeur.

"Phone all my appointments until 2:00 AM and postpone them half an hour," the Madame ordered Natsu when they passed through the lobby.

The car took them through the dark streets of Tokyo, winding away into the suburbs. Kagome thought she might fall asleep in the warm, dark car. She'd barely slept the night before, as she sat vigil over Inuyasha's broken, human body. She rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder. He threaded his arm between them to hold her hand.

The car stopped on the street, and the party spilled out in front of a large property enclosed in a stone wall. The Madame took them to the solid wooden gate and pressed the door buzzer.

"Don't try to jump over the wall," she warned Inuyasha. "There's a barrier. Worst case scenario, you'll break the seal. Best case, it'll just kill you."

The intercom fuzzed. "Who is it? With password, please."

"The Madame. _Wind whines and whines the shingle._ "

"What was that?" Inuyasha asked Kagome.

Kagome blinked her dry eyes. "I think it was English. I can't tell right now."

The intercom blared and the Madame pushed the door open. Despite the dark, it was clear that this wasn't a normal property. Instead of a lawn and a house, or even multiple buildings like the Higurashi campus, the wide expanse of the property was wild. A single guard house the size of Kagome's bedroom stood next to the gate.

Standing in front of the guard house was a dark-skinned young woman in a suit. She held a bullhorn in her hand.

"Good evening, Chedipe. Is he around?" The Madame asked, taking the bullhorn.

"You know I have no idea," Chedipe responded dryly.

The Madame took the bullhorn to her lips. "Come on Benkikou, let's get this over with. The sooner we talk, the sooner I leave." Kagome put her hands to her ears against the shrieking megaphone.

They didn't have to wait long. A wind whispered through the trees with a voice like a boiling kettle.

_Dearg Due. To what do I owe the displeasure?_

"Redeeming a debt," The Madame responded. She gestured to Inuyasha, who's hand tightly gripped his sword, and Kagome. "They demanded to speak to you. Deny them their request so I can go home."

Branches shivered. _Any inconvenience of the Dearg Due is a friend of mine,_ Benkikou said. _What do you seek of me?_

Kagome licked her lips. "You...we need your help. My name is Kagome, and this is Inuyasha." She gestured to him, looking around. It was hard to hold a conversation with an invisible entity.

"There's a...portal on my property that we need access to," Kagome went on. "But it's blocked by a Nurikabe made invisible by your power. Or the power of another Benkikou."

The air swirled in front of her, and she thought she heard the sound of leaves crunching underfoot. _I am the only one of my kind left in this country. Had you heard this from any other demon, you would need not believe them. But I know this to be true._

"Right, well," Kagome said. "That's because it's a portal to the past. So there might have been more of you five hundred years ago. That's what the well is- a time portal. Is there any way you can make this Nurikabe visible so we can get rid of it?"

There was silence. After a minute The Madame rolled her eyes.

"I guess that's your answer," she said, looking down at her wristwatch. "Let's go."

She turned to go when Benkikou answered. "The portal is a well?"

Kagome spun around. She saw nothing but trees and bushes, but the sound- a real voice, now- was definitely coming from behind her.

"I would love nothing more than to assist you," Benkikou said. Kagome gasped, a smile dawning on her face.

"But," the demon went on, and Kagome's smile abruptly set. "I am forbidden from leaving this property. So I can do nothing."

"You'd have your freedom if we knew we could trust you to do your job," The Madame cut in.

"How can I prove my loyalty if you don't give me a chance to prove myself?"

"You got your chance in '74 and '92," The Madame said. She turned to go. "This is a demon who's self interest is legendary. Even if we could trust him to stay, I don't see why he'd help you. Let's go."

 _You know what you need to bring me for my cooperation, Dearg Due,_ Benkikou said, his words back to willowy murmurs. _I would gladly hide a thousand demons for the taste of a Senka maiden._

"A Senka maiden?" Inuyasha said.

The Madame was already at the gate, Chedipe holding the door open for her. Her shoulders hunched under the fur coat she'd donned when they left her office.

"Get this through your stupid, invisible head," the Madame snarled softly. "Even if the Daitengu would submit to the Hidden Bureau, we still wouldn't let you have her. The Senka maiden is four years old."

Inuyasha and Kagome turned to each other, wide eyed.

 _I have trained younger children,_ Kurukufumu argued.

"Wait," Kagome said.

* * *

Yuka looked around at the plain hallways of the Hidden Bureau's office building.

"It seems kind of boring for a secret demon headquarters," she complained, glancing at the human-looking demons she passed. But she smirked as demons who passed took double-takes to sniff at her, and Inuyasha re-positioned his grip on Tetsusaiga.

"You should try coming in through the club entrance at night," Kagome grinned.

"I don't know how you guys get into so much trouble!" Yuka laughed. "Last night I just wanted to go to a party, and you guys somehow turned it into a shootout! I go home and go to sleep, and you guys go and discover some magical, demonic conspiracy."

"Yeah well, when your dog is pulling at the leash, you either run or get pulled forward," Kagome muttered under her breath with a grin. Inuyasha's ears twitched. "Be grateful we waited to get out of school today instead of grabbing you then and there last night."

"Hey," Inuyasha said. But didn't complain further when Kagome reached out to grab his free hand. He was wearing his reds again, looking like the old Inuyasha Yuka had met when she got kicked out of class.

Yuka eyed their twined hands, Inuyasha's thumb running over Kagome's knuckles. "I see," she said.

"Alright, here we are," Kagome breathed. She knocked on the door of the Madame's office.

One of the goons opened the door a crack. He paused, gaping at Yuka. And then he lunged.

Yuka shrieked, jumping backwards as Inuyasha pushed her behind him. He drew Tetsusaiga. The goon ignored him, jumping to bypass him.

"Don't kill him!" The Madame shrieked from inside her office.

Inuyasha "tch"ed and swung Tetsusaiga in a shallow arc. Instead of falling into two pieces, the demon was thrown back. He fell, gasping, a deep slash blooming red on his chest.

"Get that idiot to the clinic," The Madame snapped, standing up walking out from behind her desk. She stepped out of the room and over her underling. As the rest of her retinue dragged their fallen comrade away, the Madame held out a hand to Yuka.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Shimizu," she said. "Your friends have told me all about you."

* * *

They drove back to Benkikou's compound, the Madame at the wheel. "I'm honestly surprised you were only attacked once," she said conversationally. "But your power isn't as potent as the other Senka maiden I've met. It seems my employee is just particularly weak willed."

Yuka rubbed her sweaty palms on her skirt. "I really don't know how to respond to that."

When they parked at the compound, the Madame turned around to prep them.

"This is a demon motivated entirely by self interest," she explained, gazing intently into Yuka's eyes. "And there is nothing he wants more than you."

"My...youki?" Yuka said.

The Madame shook her head. "It's not youki. You're not a demon. But your power, yes.

"I am a demon," Yuka muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Yuka shook her head. She covered her face. "I don't know why I said that."

"Anyway," the Madame went on. "Now that he knows you exist, for as long as you're alive, he'll do whatever he can to get to your power again."

"Will he...hurt me?" Yuka asked nervously.

The Madame shook her head again. "No. To do so he would have to make himself vulnerable. And he says he's, hmm, 'kept' Senka maidens before. That he prefers to keep them alive for as long as possible, only eating them when they're already on their deathbeds."

"Great," Yuka murmured.

"Coming to my main point," the Madame continued. "Are you a virgin?"

Yuka, Inuyasha, and Kagome all gaped at her for an instant of stunned silence. It ended when both girls shouted " _What?!"_ And Inuyasha exclaimed, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

The Madame waves their shouts away. "Alright, the answer is clear," she sighed. She looked up and down Yuka's red face. "I figured it was a long shot. But even so, I'd like to offer you a job."

"Oh hell no," Inuyasha said.

"Not _that_ job," the Madame told him sternly. She turned back to Yuka. "We keep the Benkikoulocked up because we need him, and he can't be trusted not to disappear. If you're around to wrangle him, however, that's a good eighty or so years of him doing his job voluntarily." Her expression darkened. "I, of all yokai, do not want to keep anyone locked up. But the good of the many overwhelm, in this case."

"Can I think about it?" Yuka asked. The Madame told her what her salary would be.

"I'll think _very_ hard," Yuka said.

The Madame nodded. "Very well. But you must tell him that you've accepted my job offer, so that he agrees to come back to his cage."

She clapped her hands and grinned an icy smile. "Come, children," she said. "Let's go visify a demon."

Yuka expected to be afraid. But when she walked into the compound full of native Japanese trees, the sound of the wind rustling softly in the branches made her feel just the opposite. It smelled like safety. It sounded like home.

The demon woman didn't even touch the megaphone before Benkikou revealed himself. One moment the ground was empty, and in the next he was there. Visible, corporeal, and exuding yokai. He looked like a great beetle made of purple smoke.

"My dear," he whispered. "It has been far too long."

"Shit. Chedipe!" The Madame hissed as Inuyasha drew his sword.

"Wait." Yuka held out her arms, blocking the demons behind her. She wasn't afraid.

"I know you," she said back.

"Of course you do," Benkikou responded. "I would have found you sooner, had I been able."

Everyone behind them looked at each other in confusion. Inuyasha did not lower Tetsusaiga.

"How trapped you must feel," Benkikou said softly. He approached her and lowered his head into her arms. "Oh Sachi."

Yuka hiccuped for air, suddenly suffocating. _Sachi. That's not my name._ She still didn't remember, but she knew. She knew this demon. She knew he cared for her, as much as he cared for the energy she fed him.

And he was right, wasn't he? It wasn't just her parents. Yuka had felt trapped even before adolescence, when she and her father had really started fighting. Yuka was always pushing boundaries, sparking tempers. She'd been searching for something more than human, something realer than humans.

She'd been searching for herself.

It felt like letting go, when she pulled the white fire up from her stomach. Her hands glowed white, feeding into Kurukufumu's unhidden youki. It felt like breathing in.

"I was Sachi?" she asked. "That was me in a...a past life?"

"You are you," Benkikou said. "The name and body you carry is irrelevant."

"I don't...I don't want Kagome to go," Yuka whispered to him. "That's what we came here to do, you know. You'd help them unblock the well so they can go back." She didn't know if Inuyasha could hear her as she whispered into the hazy, purple fur.

"I missed her so much, when she was gone," she whispered. "I don't want to lose her again." And her life was so much more fun when Inuyasha and Kagome were in it.

"You haven't changed, Sachi," Benkikou said. "Keeping your friends close was always your goal."

 _You see evil in the world, you slay it._ Was keeping people like Inuyasha and Kagome, who went out and did good by slaying evil, in the modern world where they couldn't do all the good they could...was that evil? Yuka could have done nothing. She could have stepped back and said she didn't feel comfortable ordering Benkikou around. The well would stay sealed and Yuka would keep her friend with her.

But she didn't think Kagome would want to be friends with a person like that. And Yuka was never someone to stand idly by when something was important.

Kagome was important to her. But she was more important to the past.

"God dammit," Yuka sniffed, wiping her tears from her eyes. "Let's go fix that stupid well."

* * *

They stood inside the well house, a big audience to Inuyasha and Kagome's send off. Yuka, Benkikou(invisible), the Madame, Mama, Sota, and Gramps.

In an instant, the bottom of the well changed from dirt to smooth, light-brown bricks. The bricks shifted as the Nurikabe rose up from the bottom of the well.

"Mistress!" it whined, drawing its massive bulk up out of the well. "You came back for me!"

"Uh," Yuka said, taking a nervous step backwards and glancing at Benkikou. She could see him, though she knew no one else could. She did not remember _this_ demon.

"I waited here so patiently, grant me a boon!" The Nurikabe demanded.

"Say please," Yuka responded automatically.

"Please," the Nurikabe wheedled.

Yuka fed a small ball of energy to the Nurikabe. It crooned and wagged its whole body like a very ugly dog.

"You've done a good job," Yuka said. "Now it's time to go home."

Benkikou blinked, and the Nurikabe was invisible again. And then it was gone.

"It's gone," Yuka said glumly.

Inuyasha and Kagome stood on the lip of the well. Instead of the usual yellow knapsack Inuyasha held a cardboard box to resupply them for their journey.

Kagome hopped down from the well to give Yuka a hug. "Thank you," she said. "And thank you for sticking with me through all the crazyness."

Yuka held her friend tight. "Sticking with you through the crazyness is literally the definition of friendship," she said. "Besides. I _like_ the crazyness."

"Even when you're being shot at?"

"Well, maybe a little less then."

They let go of each other and Kagome stepped back to the well. She grabbed Inuyasha's hands and smiled up at him. "You ready?"

"Hey!" Yuka interrupted. Kagome and Inuyasha turned back to look at her.

"No more secrets, all right?" she said. She nodded at the Madame. "Now that I'm working for her I've got more clearance than you guys anyway. So I'm expecting _all_ the hot gossip next time you're back!"

Kagome laughed. "You got it!" Then she gasped, and ran back to Yuka's side to whisper in her ear.

Yuka gave an excited little shriek as Kagome jumped back to the well.

"Let's _go_ already," Inuyasha said. Kagome grinned and held his hand again.

Together, they stepped off the edge and fell. Yuka ran forward in time to look down into the glowing blue infinity, and Kagome and Inuyasha's forms growing smaller and smaller within it.

"No one's gonna be surprised about that, you know!" She called down into the well. "Besides, I told you it was fun!"

* * *

OMAKE:

When Inuyasha and Kagome returned to the modern era after a month and a half, tired and worn but buoyed with life and love, Mama Higurashi went straight to Inuyasha.

"Thank goodness you're back," she sighed, giving him a hug. Kagome tried not to be insulted.

"A woman named Kimiko keeps calling for you. I keep telling her you're not here," Mama said. "She said she knows you're in the past fighting evil and all, but she wonders if you can come back to cover a few shifts?"


End file.
